Johnson & Darwin

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 2005

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.

European Journal of Political Economy, 2008

We examine the competing views of two sets of "experts" in a historical context, the Bradlaugh-Besant trial of 1877. The case was ostensibly about what constituted "obscenity" and whether, specifically, republishing a book at low cost that contained information on contraception, was obscene. Behind the trial lurked two larger questions: whether natural selection yielded felicitous results in humans; and, supposing it did not, what might be done to improve upon the results of unimpeded natural selection? The "failure" of natural selection was said to occur because people chose to pursue happiness as opposed to perfection of the human race The issue was whether it was advisable to have unrestricted access to information on how to limit births. Some experts, including Charles Darwin, feared that as information became widely available at low cost, it would be used by the wrong sorts of individuals and not by others, so that the salutary effects of natural selection on human perfection would be suspended. Others, like Besant, Bradlaugh and J. S. Mill, advocated wide access in order to mitigate the misery associated with unwanted births and extreme poverty.

Kritikon Litterarum, 2018

Science & Education, 2010

The year 2009 marked the sesquicentennial of the original publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (and the bicentennial of his birth). Thousands of events, conferences, museum exhibitions and other events throughout the world were held in ...

American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 1992

2018

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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

Philosophy in Review, 2009

Often fascinating, often frustrating, this is a hefty-and unfortunately unindexed-anthology on evolution and religion, distinguished by its emphasis on process thought, the philosophical-cum-theological approach to metaphysics based on the writings of Whitehead. As Cobb, himself a pioneer of process theology, explains, the purpose of the book (and of the conference on which it was based) is 'to introduce a Whiteheadian voice into the present discussion of evolution and religion' and to indicate 'the way in which a theistic evolutionary theory can be coherently developed from a Whiteheadian point of view' (17-18). Not all of the contributors are invested, or even particularly interested, in process thought, but the volume is editorially shaped in such a way as to present 'one long argument' (to borrow Darwin's phrase) for the importance of process thought for understanding evolution, scientifically as well as theologically. Cobb challenges what he takes to be three dubious claims: that contemporary evolutionary theory is scientifically adequate, that the metaphysics presupposed in contemporary scientific practice is philosophically adequate, and that both of these are theologically adequate for 'a revised formulation of theology' (311)-that is, a formulation along the Whiteheadian lines he favors. In so doing, he is seeking to integrate science and theology in a way that may require revisions not only to theology but also to science; he is thus rejecting, in the familiar typology offered by Ian Barbour, the alternative positions on which science and theology are regarded as in conflict, as independent, and as in dialogue. On none of these points, too, are all the contributors in agreement with Cobb, as he acknowledges, but it is fair to judge the volume's success in terms of the success of his ambitious project. In reacting against contemporary evolutionary theory, Cobb's argument finds a foil in what he calls neo-Darwinism, here represented in person by Francisco Ayala. A student of Dobzhansky and a formidable scientist in his own right, Ayala is also a former Dominican priest with a doctoral degree in theology; he favors the independence position in Barbour's typology. His main contribution to this collection is 'From Paley to Darwin: Design to Natural Selection', but he also furnishes four subsidiary essays on various subjects. In all, about a generous seventh of the book is Ayala's, although anyone wanting to understand his views will probably be better served by reading his Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion (2007). He devotes a few salient pages to the term 'neo-Darwinism', observing that it 'has little currency among evolutionary biologists' and seems to be 'mostly confined to the writings of philosophers and theologians' (53). As if to prove him right, neo-Darwinism turns out to be the philosophical and theological bogey of the volume. David Ray Griffin, for example, identi

The Review of Politics, 1988