Darwinism
Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. Also called Darwinian theory, it originally included the broad concepts of transmutation of species or of evolution which gained general scientific acceptance after Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, including concepts which predated Darwin's theories. English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the term Darwinism in April 1860.[1]
Terminology
Darwinism subsequently referred to the specific concepts of natural selection, the Weismann barrier, or the central dogma of molecular biology.[2] Though the term usually refers strictly to biological evolution, creationists have appropriated it to refer to the origin of life or to cosmic evolution, that are distinct to biological evolution.[3] It is therefore considered the belief and acceptance of Darwin's and of his predecessors' work, in place of other concepts, including divine design and extraterrestrial origins.[4][5]
English biologist
While the term Darwinism has remained in use amongst the public when referring to modern evolutionary theory, it has increasingly been argued by science writers such as Olivia Judson, Eugenie Scott, and Carl Safina that it is an inappropriate term for modern evolutionary theory.[8][9][10] For example, Darwin was unfamiliar with the work of the Moravian scientist and Augustinian friar Gregor Mendel,[11] and as a result had only a vague and inaccurate understanding of heredity. He naturally had no inkling of later theoretical developments and, like Mendel himself, knew nothing of genetic drift, for example.[12][13]
In the United States, creationists often use the term "Darwinism" as a pejorative term in reference to beliefs such as scientific materialism. This is now also the case even in the United Kingdom.[8]
Huxley and Kropotkin
Huxley, upon first reading Darwin's theory in 1858, responded, "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!"[15]
While the term Darwinism had been used previously to refer to the work of
What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular? What if species should offer residual phenomena, here and there, not explicable by natural selection? Twenty years hence naturalists may be in a position to say whether this is, or is not, the case; but in either event they will owe the author of "The Origin of Species" an immense debt of gratitude.... And viewed as a whole, we do not believe that, since the publication of Von Baer's "Researches on Development," thirty years ago, any work has appeared calculated to exert so large an influence, not only on the future of Biology, but in extending the domination of Science over regions of thought into which she has, as yet, hardly penetrated.[6]
These are the basic tenets of evolution by natural selection as defined by Darwin:
- More individuals are produced each generation than can survive.
- Phenotypic variation exists among individuals and the variation is heritable.
- Those individuals with heritable traits better suited to the environment will survive.
- When reproductive isolation occurs new species will form.
Another important evolutionary theorist of the same period was the Russian geographer and prominent anarchist Pyotr Kropotkin who, in his book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902), advocated a conception of Darwinism counter to that of Huxley. His conception was centred around what he saw as the widespread use of co-operation as a survival mechanism in human societies and animals. He used biological and sociological arguments in an attempt to show that the main factor in facilitating evolution is cooperation between individuals in free-associated societies and groups. This was in order to counteract the conception of fierce competition as the core of evolution, which provided a rationalization for the dominant political, economic and social theories of the time; and the prevalent interpretations of Darwinism, such as those by Huxley, who is targeted as an opponent by Kropotkin. Kropotkin's conception of Darwinism could be summed up by the following quote:
In the animal world we have seen that the vast majority of species live in societies, and that they find in association the best arms for the struggle for life: understood, of course, in its wide Darwinian sense—not as a struggle for the sheer means of existence, but as a struggle against all natural conditions unfavourable to the species. The animal species, in which individual struggle has been reduced to its narrowest limits, and the practice of mutual aid has attained the greatest development, are invariably the most numerous, the most prosperous, and the most open to further progress. The mutual protection which is obtained in this case, the possibility of attaining old age and of accumulating experience, the higher intellectual development, and the further growth of sociable habits, secure the maintenance of the species, its extension, and its further progressive evolution. The unsociable species, on the contrary, are doomed to decay.[18]
— Peter Kropotkin, Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902), Conclusion
Other 19th-century usage
"Darwinism" soon came to stand for an entire range of evolutionary (and often revolutionary) philosophies about both biology and society. One of the more prominent approaches, summed in the 1864 phrase "survival of the fittest" by Herbert Spencer, later became emblematic of Darwinism even though Spencer's own understanding of evolution (as expressed in 1857) was more similar to that of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck than to that of Darwin, and predated the publication of Darwin's theory in 1859. What is now called "Social Darwinism" was, in its day, synonymous with "Darwinism"—the application of Darwinian principles of "struggle" to society, usually in support of anti-philanthropic political agenda. Another interpretation, one notably favoured by Darwin's half-cousin Francis Galton, was that "Darwinism" implied that because natural selection was apparently no longer working on "civilized" people, it was possible for "inferior" strains of people (who would normally be filtered out of the gene pool) to overwhelm the "superior" strains, and voluntary corrective measures would be desirable—the foundation of eugenics.
In Darwin's day there was no rigid definition of the term "Darwinism", and it was used by opponents and proponents of Darwin's biological theory alike to mean whatever they wanted it to in a larger context. The ideas had international influence, and Ernst Haeckel developed what was known as Darwinismus in Germany, although, like Spencer's "evolution", Haeckel's "Darwinism" had only a rough resemblance to the theory of Charles Darwin, and was not centred on natural selection.[19] In 1886, Alfred Russel Wallace went on a lecture tour across the United States, starting in New York and going via Boston, Washington, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska to California, lecturing on what he called "Darwinism" without any problems.[20]
In his book
Contemporary usage
The term Darwinism is often used in the United States by promoters of
Creationists use pejoratively the term Darwinism to imply that the theory has been held as true only by Darwin and a core group of his followers, whom they cast as dogmatic and inflexible in their belief.[31] In the 2008 documentary film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which promotes intelligent design (ID), American writer and actor Ben Stein refers to scientists as Darwinists. Reviewing the film for Scientific American, John Rennie says "The term is a curious throwback, because in modern biology almost no one relies solely on Darwin's original ideas... Yet the choice of terminology isn't random: Ben Stein wants you to stop thinking of evolution as an actual science supported by verifiable facts and logical arguments and to start thinking of it as a dogmatic, atheistic ideology akin to Marxism."[32]
However, Darwinism is also used neutrally within the scientific community to distinguish the
In political discussions in the United States, the term is mostly used by its enemies.[33] "It's a rhetorical device to make evolution seem like a kind of faith, like 'Maoism,'" says Harvard University biologist E. O. Wilson. He adds, "Scientists don't call it 'Darwinism'."[34] In the United Kingdom, the term often retains its positive sense as a reference to natural selection, and for example British ethologist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote in his collection of essays A Devil's Chaplain, published in 2003, that as a scientist he is a Darwinist.[35]
In his 1995 book Darwinian Fairytales, Australian philosopher David Stove[36] used the term "Darwinism" in a different sense than the above examples. Describing himself as non-religious and as accepting the concept of natural selection as a well-established fact, Stove nonetheless attacked what he described as flawed concepts proposed by some "Ultra-Darwinists." Stove alleged that by using weak or false ad hoc reasoning, these Ultra-Darwinists used evolutionary concepts to offer explanations that were not valid: for example, Stove suggested that the sociobiological explanation of altruism as an evolutionary feature was presented in such a way that the argument was effectively immune to any criticism. English philosopher Simon Blackburn wrote a rejoinder to Stove,[37] though a subsequent essay by Stove's protégé James Franklin[38] suggested that Blackburn's response actually "confirms Stove's central thesis that Darwinism can 'explain' anything."
In more recent times, the Australian
Esoteric usage
In evolutionary aesthetics theory, there is evidence that perceptions of beauty are determined by natural selection and therefore Darwinian; that things, aspects of people and landscapes considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced survival of the perceiving human's genes.[40][41]
See also
- Darwin Awards
- Evidence of common descent
- History of evolutionary thought
- Modern evolutionary synthesis
- Neural Darwinism
- Pangenesis—Charles Darwin's hypothetical mechanism for heredity
- Social Darwinism
- Speciation
- Universal Darwinism
References
- Westminster Review(Book review). 17. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy: 541–570. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular?
- ^ Wilkins, John (21 December 1998). "So You Want to be an Anti-Darwinian: Varieties of Opposition to Darwinism". TalkOrigins Archive. Houston, TX: The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
- ISSN 0006-3568.
- ^ "...on what evolution explains". Expelled Exposed. Oakland, CA: National Center for Science Education. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ Le Fèvre, Olivier; Marinoni, Christian (6 December 2006). "Do Galaxies Follow Darwinian Evolution?" (Press release). Marseille, France: European Southern Observatory. eso0645. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
- ^ Westminster Review(Book review). 17. London: Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy: 541–570. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular?
- ^ Bowler 2003, pp. 179, 222–225, 338–339, 347
- ^ ISSN 1936-6426.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the originalon 5 November 2017. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 October 2020.
- S2CID 860470.
- ^ Moran, Laurence (22 January 1993). "Random Genetic Drift". TalkOrigins Archive. Houston, TX: The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 27 June 2008.
- ^ Hanes, Joel. "What is Darwinism?". TalkOrigins Archive. Houston, TX: The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 19 June 2008.
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 376–379
- ^ Huxley 1893 vol. 1, p.189.
- ^ Blinderman, Charles; Joyce, David. "Darwin's Bulldog". The Huxley File. Worcester, MA: Clark University. Retrieved 29 June 2008.
- ^ Browne 2002, pp. 105–106
- ^ Kropotkin 1902, p. 293
- ^ Schmitt S. (2009). Haeckel: A German Darwinian? Comptes Rendus Biologies: 332: 110–118.
- ^ Tippett, Krista (host); Moore, James (5 February 2009). "Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin". Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett (Transcript). NPR. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ^ Wallace, Alfred Russel. (1889). Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection, with Some of Its Applications. Macmillan and Company.
- ISBN 978-0195112290
- ^ Romanes, John George. (1906). "Darwin and After Darwin: An Exposition of the Darwinian Theory and a Discussion of Post-Darwinian Questions". Volume 2: Heredity and Utility. The Open Court Publishing Company. p. 12
- ISBN 978-0674729698
- ISBN 978-0898595420
- ^ Elsdon-Baker, F. (2008). Spirited dispute: the secret split between Wallace and Romanes. Endeavour 32(2): 75–78
- ^ Scott 2007, "Creation Science Lite: 'Intelligent Design' as the New Anti-Evolutionism," p. 72
- ^ Johnson, Phillip E. (31 August 1996). "What is Darwinism?". Access Research Network. Colorado Springs, CO. Retrieved 4 January 2007. "This paper was originally delivered as a lecture at a symposium at Hillsdale College, in November 1992. Papers from the Symposium were published in the collection Man and Creation: Perspectives on Science and Theology (Bauman ed. 1993), by Hillsdale College Press, Hillsdale MI 49242."
- ^ Ropp, Matthew. "Charles Hodge and His Objection to Darwinism: The Exclusion of Intelligent Design". theRopps.com. Chesterbrook, PA. Retrieved 4 January 2007. Paper for CH506: American Church History, Dr. Nathan Feldmeth, Winter Quarter 1997, "written while a student in the School of World Mission at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California."
- ^ Hodge 1874
- ^ Sullivan, Morris (Spring 2005). "From the Beagle to the School Board: God Goes Back to School". Impact Press (56). Orlando, FL: Loudmouth Productions. Retrieved 18 September 2008.
- ISSN 0036-8733. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ^ "Constitutional Rights Foundation". www.crf-usa.org. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
- ISSN 0028-9604. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ^ Sheahen, Laura. "Religion: For Dummies". Beliefnet. Norfolk, VA: BN Media, LLC. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- ^ Stove 1995
- S2CID 170606849.
- (PDF) from the original on 28 February 2011.
- ISBN 9781400831296.
- ^ The Oxford Handbook for Aesthetics
- ^ "A Darwinian theory of beauty". ted.com. Archived from the original on February 11, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
Sources
- OCLC 49824702.
- OCLC 733100564.
- OCLC 11489956. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
- Huxley, Thomas Henry (1893). Darwiniana: Essays. Macmillan and Company.
- Retrieved 2015-11-17.
- Petto, Andrew J.; Godfrey, Laurie R., eds. (2007) [Originally published 2007 as Scientists Confront Intelligent Design and Creationism]. Scientists Confront Creationism: Intelligent Design and Beyond. New York: OCLC 173480577.
- OCLC 35145565.
Further reading
- (in Russian) Runivers.ru in DjVuformat.
- Fiske, John. (1885). Darwinism, and Other Essays. Houghton Mifflin and Company.
- Mayr, Ernst. (1985). The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance. Harvard University Press.
- Romanes, John George. (1906). Darwin and After Darwin: An Exposition of the Darwinian Theory and a Discussion of Post-Darwinian Questions. Volume 2: Heredity and Utility. The Open Court Publishing Company.
- Wallace, Alfred Russel. (1889). Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection, with Some of Its Applications. Macmillan and Company.
- Simon, C. (2019). Taking Darwinism seriously. Animal Sentience, 3(23), 47.
External links
- Lennox, James (26 May 2015). "Darwinism". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2015 ed.). Stanford, CA: The Metaphysics Research Lab, Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI), Stanford University. Retrieved 16 November 2015.