What Darwin Really Said: An Introduction to His Life and Theory of Evolution

by Benjamin Farrington

Overview

With a foreword by Stephen Jay Gould
 
First published in 1859, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution inalterably transformed our view of the history of life on the planet—and along with it, how we understand ourselves, our origins, and our place in the world. As we stand before the dawn of a new century, this theory is still the source of heated debate. In medicine, psychology, sociology, and politics, controversial new ideas are being espoused to claim Darwin for their legitimacy, while religious opponents continue to press for their alternative theory of “creationism” to be taught in the public schools. To being light where there has been much heat, What Darwin Really Said offers an excellent introduction to this great thinker’s discoveries, his view of human development, and the endurance of his theories against the test of time.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780805210620
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/02/1996
Series:	What They Really Said
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.25(d)

About the Author

BENJAMIN FARRINGTON was emeritus professor of classics at University College in Swansea, Wales.

Read an Excerpt

INTRODUCTION
 
 
Charles Darwin, the author, among many other books, of The Origen of Species (1859) and of The Descent of Man (1871), was the central figure in a great revolution of thought which was taking place about a hundred years ago. At that time it was commonly believed that the world was only about 6,000 years old; that it had been created by God about 4,000 B.C. as a concern; and that now, about 6,000 years later, it was still much the same as He had left it when He rested from his six days’ work.
 
A contrary opinion had been held by some thinkers in antiquity and was now being revived with much fresh argument. This was, that the world was much more than 6,000 years old; and that the world and all the creatures on it had undergone many great changes and would undergo more. The world, in short, was not simply a going concern, but a growing concern. Moreover, it was claimed, science has begun to arrange in order the various stages of development and to determine the laws of its growth.
 
This theory of evolution rather than a once-for-all act of creation had been in the air for some time before Charles Darwin wrote. His own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was one of its most ardent and persuasive advocates. But the majority of educated men, not only churchmen but scientists, were against the idea until Charles Darwin formulated the theory in a new way and supported it with a mass of evidence which won it general acceptance.
 
The extent of the opposition by churchmen created the image of a clash between religion and science which has left its mark on our history. It is not forgotten how Bishop Wilberforce at a meeting of the British Association in 1860 asked indignantly whether a man who accepted an ape for his grandfather must also accept an ape for grandmother. Thomas Huxley caustically replied that for his part he would rather be descended from a humble monkey than from a man who employed his eloquence misrepresenting earnest men who were wearing out their lives in the search for the truth. But there were open-minded men in the Church as well as outside it. In the same year the New Testament scholar Hort wrote to his friend Westcott: “Have you read Darwin? . . . I am inclined to think it unanswerable. In any case it’s a treat to read such a book.” Other churchmen too were soon “thanking God that the scientific men have shattered the idol of an infallible book.”
 
Part of our business, then, will be to set forth the evidence advanced by Darwin which shattered the creationist views taught by the Church on the basis of the first two chapter of Genesis. Also we shall have to glance at what Darwin did not know. For so rapid has been the advance of knowledge that for the modern evolutionist much of what Darwin wrote is irredeemably out-of-date. Also, like everybody else, he had his blind spots.

Table of Contents

In Praise of Charles Darwin: Foreword by Stephen Jay Gould, xi

1. Introduction, 3
2. Youth, 7
3. Cambridge: Conflicting Influences, 11
4. The Voyage of the "Beagle", 17
5. The Scientist Comes Home, 33
6. The Origin of the Species by Natural Selection
7. The Descent of Man, 49
8. Darwin and His Predecessors, 59
9. The Rise of Genetics, 63
10. The Uniqueness of Man,  71
11. Evolution at the Psycho-Social Stage, 75
12. Darwin and the Poets, 83
13. Darwin and Christianity, 89
14. Darwin's Place in the History of Thought, 97

Bibliography, 113
Index, 115

Editorial Reviews

Tremendous—probably the best brief book on the subject. Farrington manages to capture the essence and the excitement of Darwin and his discoveries.”
—Choice
 
“An excellent blend of biography, science, history, and philosophy . . . The impact that Darwin’s work had on his world and still has on ours is carefully yet simply described.”
—Library Journal

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