Chronology and context:
origins and structure of Darwin’s long argument
Darwin and his World
Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism
Honors 1104: Unity & Diversity of Knowledge
Bemidji State University
Marsha Driscoll, Elizabeth Dunn, Dann Siems, Kamran Swanson
Game Introduction
• The setting…
– Royal Society of London
• 21 Member Council Meetings
• General Sessions – presentation of a paper or papers – retire to library or club
– The time frame
• Compresses events occurring from Royal Society Reform of 1847 to Tyndall’s
1874 Efficacy of Prayer Resolution (roughly third quarter of 19th century)
• Collapses time from death of Prince Albert at 42 in 1861 to 1864 to a point
• The stakes
– Copley Medal – to Darwin or not to Darwin, that is the question…
• 19th Century winners
– Symbolic endorsement of naturalism over ‘supernaturalism’ by pre-eminent
scientific academy of the day
– Related issues: race, class, gender, professionalization of science, science
and religion…
• The ‘factions’ – somewhat nebulous and shifting on various issues
– X-men: generally committed to the sufficiency of naturalistic (materialistic)
explanation albeit with some misgivings
– A-men: committed to a need for theological (ideal) causes and
justifications
Two Key Influences on
Darwin’s Philosophy of Science
• William Whewell (1794-1866)
– Coined the then controversial term ‘scientist’ in
1833 – first “philosopher of science”
– “History (1837) and Philosophy (1840) of the
Inductive Sciences”
• “Consilience of inductions” – one class of facts
coincides with an induction obtained from a different
class – ‘strengthens the fabric of our knowledge’
• See Wilson, E.O. 1998. Consilience (pro | con)
– William Whewell-John Stewart Mill debate
[CONSILIENCE OF INDUCTIONS]
• John Herschel (1792-1871)
– “Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural
Philosophy” (1830)
– SEARCH FOR VERA CAUSA AS SCIENTIFIC IDEAL
• Establish existence of cause
• Establish adequacy of the cause
• Establish responsibility of the cause
[SEARCH FOR VERA CAUSA]
Origin of Species by Mean of Natural Selection (1859)
Darwin’s ‘one long argument’ presents at least three related arguments
MAIN ARGUMENT FOR
NATURAL SELECTION
[A VERA CAUSA ARGUMENT]
BROADER ARGUMENTS
[CONSILIENCE OF INDUCTIONS]
(WHEWELL)
(HERSCHEL)
– Existence of selection
• Does selection exist?
– Adequacy of selection
•
Broader argument for transmutation
within species over time
•
Broader argument for descent of different
species from a common ancestor
• Can selection account for
– change in species?
– Adaptive fit to
environment?
– Origin of new species?
– Responsibility of selection
• Is selection both a necessary
and a sufficient cause?
Note that one could accept
Darwin’s broader arguments
without buying natural
selection as the responsible
mechanism [and many did!]
[See Hodge 1977 and Waters 2003 on structure of Darwin’s argument ]
The Structure of the Origin
[Adapted from Hodge 1977 and Waters 2003]
Part
Strategy
Tactics
Chapters
I. Variation and
selection under
domestication
Vera causa
existence
Establish accepted idea
I
Argue from analogy
II, III
Vera causa
competence
1. Make case
2. Consider difficulties
IV-V
VI-IX
Vera causa
responsibility
Present evidence
favoring responsibility
X-XII
Consilience of
Inductions
Make sense of a large
class of disparate facts
XIII
Allay fears,
convert ready
Humility -- Reverie
XIV
II. Variation and
selection in nature
III. Explanatory
trials of theory
Recapitulation
“The duty of the historian
is to restore to the past the
options it once had.”
— Gordon Craig
Edinburgh & Cambridge (1825-1831)
Edinburgh medicine (1825-1827)
•
“Athens of the North”
•
Materialist tradition
•
Transmutation sympathies
–
–
•
Family tradition – father and
grandfather Erasmus Darwin
Robe rt Grant – invertebrate
zoology – introduced Darwin to
transmutationist ideas o f
Lamarck and Geoffroy
Darwin roomed with brother
Erasmus, five years his senior
–
•
Collecting and describing inverts
from the Firth of Forth
No taste for medicine
–
Father’s comments on Darwin’s
prospect – “care for nothing…”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cambridge theology (1828-1831)
Had to accept the “Thirty-nine article
of Anglican communion”
Demonstrate competence in new
testament Greek
William Paley’s (1802) “Natural
theology” or, Evidences of the
Existence and Attributes of the Deity
Bridgewater Treatises On the Power
Wisdom and Goodness of God As
Manifested in the Creation
Rev. Adam Sedgwick (geologist)
Rev. John Stevens Henslow (botanist)
• Social and professional connections!
• Later Hooker’s father-in-law
• Introduces Darwin to writing of
Augustin Pyrame de Candolle and
Alexander von Humboldt
[TRANSMUTIONIST IDEAS]
[ADAPTATION AND DESIGN]
Natural Selection
Three (inductive) observations and two (inescapable) deductions
Observation 1 – Adults on average produce (many) more offspring than
required for their own replacement
Observation 2 – Populations remain relatively constant in number (at least they
don’t increase continuously)
Deduction 1 – Therefore, it necessarily follows that some (many) offspring
must fail to survive and/or to reproduce
• IMPORTANT NOTE: Deduction 1 in no way implies the inevitability of
competition. Many offspring fall prey to predators, are victims of pathogens or
parasites, or are victims of environmental events.
• The widespread belief (past and present!) that natural selection requires competition
reflects cultural rather than biological foundations!
Observation 3 – Within any population there are heritable variations in form
and physiology (species have no immutable essence)
Deduction 2 – Any heritable variations which enhance prospects for survival
and reproduction will increase in frequency over time
The Huxley-Wilberforce Debate
British Association Advancement of Science -- 30 June 1860
• Rev. Henslow presiding…
– In place of Richard Owen
• John Draper’s (dull) speech…
– Later (1874) wrote ‘The
Conflict Between Science and
Religion’
– See also A.D. White ‘Warfare
between science and theology’
• Wilberforce attack…
– Huxley response…
– Hooker response…
– Darwin off taking water cure…
• The winner?
– Depends on who you ask!
– BBC Clip | PBS Evolution
Captain Fitzroy’s Outburst
During the proceedings Fitzroy leapt to his
feet, pounding his Bible and shouting, “All
the truth is here.” Fitzroy committed suicide
30 April 1865 despondent about his key but
unintended role in Darwin’s success.
Clergyman Charles Kingsley (1819-1875)
Theistic naturalism expressed in 1859 Letter to Darwin
“I have gradually learnt to see that it is just as noble a
conception of Deity, to believe that he created
primal forms capable of self development into all
forms needful pro tempore and pro loco, as to
believe that he required a fresh act of intervention
to supply the lacunas which He himself had made.
I question whether the former be not the loftier
thought.”