Week 3 Day 3 History of Biology Case Study

Yet another fascinating reading, this time focused on the reaction to Darwin's theory of natural selection, across all categories and levels of society. Dr. Magruder provided an article dealing with the evangelical reaction, and I also read chapter five in Farber. I think the most surprising aspect of the first reading is that both men in question are respected religious leaders, and yet they are also scientists and seem open-minded and even receptive to many of Darwin's points. They seem to question natural selection and evolution from a scientific angle, and are not inherently hostile to it on religious grounds. Apparently one of the main sticking-points at the time was the debate over the age of the earth, and that most believed the earth simply wasn't old enough to have supported the long-term process of evolution. This was based on both religious viewpoints in some cases, and on the science of the time.

As an aside here I would like to mention that this week I was fortunate to be able to visit the Oklahoma Aquarium in Jenks. This is an outstanding facility I intend to incorporate into my teaching, but I mention it here because as I viewed the impressive variety of this collection of aquatic life I found my thoughts shifting to my readings for this course, in particular Darwin's emphasis of the variety and distribution of the earth's populations, and how it helped form the basis for his ideas. I may not be able to go back in time and discover as Darwin did, but fortunately we have opportunities like this available to us to help us appreciate what it must have been like. I also recently viewed the film Master and Commander, and have a fortified appreciation for the segments in which the ship's doctor, who is also a naturalist, has the opportunity to explore the Galapogos Islands and gather specimens. To be able to view and study original works by scientists that character is based on has been a rewarding and enriching experience this summer.

The Wright-Gardiner article made clear to me several important points about Darwin, his work, and how it was viewed by his contemporaries. The three prongs of Darwin's argument are each treated with objectivity and depth by men of science and religion. The problem of the sources of variation, the definition of species, and analogies drawn to support more than one point are all discussed in the context of the times. One point I see as being particularly important is that Darwin did not necessarily have to be able to explain how traits are passed on genetically for natural selection to be valid, but Gray (with his divinely influenced heredity) and others felt without that the whole theory was weakened. The characters mention that Darwin intentionally avoided spontaneous generation and the origin of life, but again, the process of natural selection, while it explains a lot of things, was not really concerned with those questions.

Farber, in chapter five, gives some interesting background on Darwin and his work. I was impressed how Darwin was unafraid to utilize the works of others to prepare the foundation on which he built his ideas. Lyell, Malthus, Linnaeus, Buffon and many others provided key points and I was particularly impressed at how Darwin interacted positively with Wallace, and how Wallace deferred to the older and more established Darwin. I was also pleased to read about other supporters of Darwin, such as Hooker and Huxley. I also was not aware that the Germans, in particular Haeckel, were such strong early proponents of natural selection. Of course not all reaction was in agreement with him, and again Thomson's calculated age of the earth was viewed as problematic for the idea of evolution. Aggaziz, Owen, Gray and others all found fault to one degree or another with Darwin's work. Of course, some like Gray, simply felt the idea was sound but incomplete, lacking a divine or spiritual element.

Bibliographic Note:

Kerry Magruder, "The American Evangelical Reception of Darwin's Theory". An informative and interesting treatment of a meeting between Gardiner and Wright in 1875, with copious footnotes providing many other reading opportunities.

Paul Lawrence Farber, Finding Order in Nature, (Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000).

Further Reading Notes:

Both components of this assignment have many items mentioned and/or cited that I would like to pursue further, especially concerning the reaction to Darwin.