Darwin and Darwinism: An Introduction (original) (raw)
Related papers
Introducing Darwin to the Uninitiated
Metascience, 2009
Michael Ruse is a major voice in Darwinian scholarship, and it is a natural choice for him to write an introductory work on that great figure of nineteenth-century biology. Indeed, Ruse's scope includes much more than this; he includes contemporary debates to which Darwinian ideas are being applied. Given the relatively small size of the work (at roughly the 300-page mark), at the outset it seems as if he may have set himself a daunting task. But obviously, the author of Darwinism Defended, Darwinism and it Discontents, and Can a Darwinian be a Christian?, among many other books, is in a very good position to pull it off. Following a brief biography of Darwin's life and travels, the book can be divided roughly into two parts. The first documents the evidence used (both by Darwin and by contemporary researchers) to justify natural selection. This is structured according to the original order presented in the Origin of Species: geology, comparative anatomy, embryology, etc. While this is a natural choice to explain evolution, the ordering also provides a clear idea of how these disciplines have expanded since the mid-nineteenth century. Similarly to Darwin, Ruse finishes this section with the application of evolutionary ideas to humanity itself. The notion of progress, as well as what this term may imply, follows. Given that this book appears in a series devoted to great philosophers, Ruse then discusses the impact of Darwinism on various philosophical matters, from epistemology to philosophy of mind (including the problem of induction and the brain-in-a-vat), and general discussions in philosophy of science such as reductionism. While this argumentative drift may leave some readers confused,
Reports of the National Center For Science Education, 2013
The theory of evolution put forth by Charles Darwin in 1859 and the modifications given to it by endless contributions by biologists over the last century and a half is the best explanation for the diversity of life on earth. Darwin's "one long argument"-as he called it-also changed the way we think about aspects of our lives beyond biology: society, culture, economics, religion, politics, the list could go on. So, when someone considers Darwin, are they referring to the man (Charles Darwin, 1809-1882), his ideas (much more than just evolution), his influence (his name took on a lineage of its own), or his legacy (his life and work remain highly debated today)? It is a topic with a grand scope of material to digest. One could spend a life time reading books and articles written about Darwin and evolution, yet in the busy and quick access world of today, there is value in small, concise collections of material for the non-specialist to peruse and become acquainted with a topic. Barton Bite-Sized Darwiniana RNCSE 33.6, 2.2 November-December 2013 Bite-Sized Darwiniana RNCSE 33.6, 2.3 November-December 2013 Bite-Sized Darwiniana RNCSE 33.6, 2.4
Archives of Natural History, 1995
Given the number of books written by Charles Darwin and the significance of these spread out over a large natural historical and scientific field, it is surprising that English publishers have not made more of an effort to present a compact selected volume of the kind usually available in the United States. Now, at last, Penguin Books have added such a selection to their standard versions of the Voyage of the Beagle (edited by Janet Browne and Michael Neve) and On the Origin of Species (edited by J. W. Burrow). As one would expect, the Portable Darwin includes a large chunk from both of these. The editors give the first four chapters, and the last, of the first edition of the Origin where Darwin outlined the main points of his argument succinctly, and some well4cnown but always readable passages from the Journal of researches. These extracts are well-chosen for their purpose. It is, however, the material before and after which really shows the variety and excellence of their undertaking. There are extracts from Darwin's geological works, including the papers and books about South America and coral reefs which made his scientific name; the entire text of the joint papers by Darwin and Wallace which were presented to the Linnean Society in July 1858; and crucial passages from the Descent of Man. Everyone will be glad to see these in such an accessible form. In between, there are notes on bees, seeds, primroses and worms, showing just how firmly Darwin's researches rested on laboriously detailed practical investigations into nature. The editors really come into their own, however, with the material chosen to reflect Darwin's working life after the Origin: the fascinating excursion into orchid sexual anatomy, the expression of the emotions, the effects of cross-fertilisation in plants, and the movement of plants, as well as one or two spirited paragraphs on sexual selection (including Ruskin's quip about Darwin's "deep and tender interest" in the hinder parts of monkeys) and the sense of direction shown by horses. They include Darwin's curious theory of pangenesis (inheritance) and useful material on variation. Darwin's private life is well represented too, particularly in his recollections of John Stevens Henslow, his friend and professor at Cambridge University, his memoir on his grandfather Erasmus Darwin, and his sketch of an infant's development, based on his observations on his own growing children. Everything, it should be mentioned, comes from a then-contemporary publication, many of them difficult to find today: there are no private letters or notebook musings here. The editors have rightly decided to show the man that the Victorians saw-the public Darwin as well as the eminently portable one. The whole is as fresh, readable, and interesting as anyone could wish. JANET BROWNE BAUMUNK, BODO-MICHAEL and RIESS, JÜRGEN, (editors). Darwin und Darwinismus. Akademie Verlag, Berlin: 1994. Pp 265 (26 cm x 22 cm), illustrated, paperback. Price DM 48.00.
The General Science Journal, 2022
This article 8 of the series is devoted exclusively to the conception, development, preparation and publication, in 1859, of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, as well as to the methodological and scientific analysis of Darwin's work and the social reception of his theory of evolution. It covers a long period of Darwin's life from 1828 (his arrival in Cambridge) to his death in 1882. The article analyses from his training as a naturalist to his commitment and effort to adapt his work to the canons of Newtonian science, both from the deductive and the inductive point of view, the latter supported by an overwhelming empirical documentation collected mainly from the observation of nature and, to a lesser extent, from experimentation.