Family of the Heart Seminar - Feb. 13, 2005
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CHARLES DARWIN, SCIENCE AND THEORY OF EVOLUTION |
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By Dr. Khalid Sohail, Whitby, ON
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Charles Darwin is most famous for presenting the Theory of Evolution to the world. Most people who give him all the credit for the theory may not know that he was not the first person in the world, not even in his own family who believed in that theory. His own grandfather Erasmus Darwin, who was a poet and an intellectual, wrote about that theory in his poems and essays. But that theory belonged to the world of philosophy and poetry. Charles Darwin gets the credit for being the first person, who introduced the theory to the world of science. His biographers Michael White and John Gribbin wrote, “…he was the first person to come up with a theory of evolution that proved to withstand rigorous scientific testing.” (Ref 1 ) But to do that Darwin worked long hours day after day and night after night not only for years hut decades.
When we study Darwin’s life story we discover that his father wanted him to be a doctor and sent him to medical school but Darwin hated dissection and could not imagine practicing in a clinic seeing patients for the rest of his life. He was far more interested in geology and philosophy than medicine. In medical school he joined Plinian Society that consisted of a group of intellectuals who wrote essays about geology and biology and had open, honest and passionate discussions about nature. It was during that time that Charles Darwin met Robert Edward Grant who was also a member of the society and had a rebellious personality. He shared with Charles Darwin that in his mind modern science and religion were incompatible. He believed that people who had blind faith in God and scriptures were not willing to accept the results of modern scientific investigations.
When Darwin’s father realized that he did not want to study medicine and live as a respectable doctor he sent him to religious school and wanted him to be a minister. Darwin studied scriptures but was not convinced by theological arguments. He was more drawn to science than religion. So he left the religious education and followed his own dream rather than the dream of his father. Darwin was obsessed with nature and wanted to study rocks, plants, birds, animals and humans and discover the mysteries of nature.
When Charles Darwin studied the contemporary literature of his time, he realized that there were two groups. The religious group believed in divine interventions. They believed that human beings were the descendents of Adam and Eve created in heaven. They did not see any connection between the birth of man and other animals and living beings. On the other hand there was a group of philosophers who believed in the survival of the fittest. Aristotle [384-322BC] in his book Physics states that Empedocles [495-435] “was the first person to suggest that the fittest forms of life [in the Darwinian use of the term] could have arisen through chance, rather than by design” (Ref 1 p 28)
Being fascinated with science Darwin studied his predecessors. He was quite impressed by Rene Descartes (1596-1650) who had made valuable contributions to scientific thinking and focused discovering laws of nature. He was the one who had suggested that “ everything in the Universe could be explained in term of ‘ a few intelligible and simple principles upon which the stars, and earth and all the visible world might have been produced.” (Ref 1 p 35) Darwin like Descartes was more interested in the visible and less interested in the invisible that religious people based their lives on. He was fascinated by nature around him that he could observe, study and analyze rather than by God, life after death, hell and heaven that he could neither see nor imagine.
When Darwin was young he tried to have some rational discussions with religious people but then he gave up. He realized that they had a blind faith in scriptures and he could not change their minds with objective methods. He realized he could not reason with their strong emotions and could not argue with faith. So he decided to do his scientific work quietly and consistently.
The more Darwin studied science the more he realized that a scientist not only has to make significant observations but he also has to analyze his experiences and make a systematic study of his experiments. Alongside Descartes, Darwin was also impressed by John Roy, who had made “the first significant attempt to produce a systematic classification of plants and animals…a taxonomy” (Ref 1 p 76) and Abraham Werner (1749-1817) who “coined terms Primary, Secondary and Tertiary for the main epochs of rock formation, which remain the main divisions recognized by geologists.” (Ref 1 p 88). Darwin learned to use his microscope and then logically analyze his data in a systematic and meaningful way so that others could understand and accept his theory.
From an early age Darwin was passionate about collecting specimens. He had a big collection of dead birds and animals even as a teenager. At one stage his family got really worried about Darwin’s obsession with killing animals. They thought he was becoming a delinquent and might become a psychopath. Their criticism made him feel guilty. They did not appreciate that he was collecting specimens to study for his research and was not getting any perverse pleasure as a sadist. I find it quite intriguing how destructiveness is intimately connected with creativity and sometimes it is unfair to judge the behaviours of creative people until we find out their noble intentions. It is not uncommon for families and communities to penalize and persecute creative people by judging them harshly without understanding and appreciating their underlying intentions and passions.
Charles Darwin’s serious research started when he was invited by Captain Robert Fitzroy to join him on his small ship Beagle and travel with him around the world. Fitzroy wanted a young intellectual who could make his sea life interesting by intellectually stimulating discussions. Darwin thought it was a wonderful opportunity not only to travel but also study rocks, plants, animals and people from different parts of the world. Robert and Charles before they started a long journey did not realize that they had as many differences in their philosophies, passions and personalities as their similarities. Robert was deeply religious while Charles was secular. Both had heated dialogues that turned into debates. Charles wanted to have logical and rational discussions while Robert expected a religious and spiritual submission. Robert used the Bible as a sacred authority not realizing that Charles did not believe it was a word of God.
The journey on the Beagle that was supposed to last for three years lasted nearly five years. During that time Darwin saw different countries, continents and cultures. He collected hundreds of specimens of plants and fossils. Darwin was also sensitive to different cultural practices and was shocked to see how people of poor countries were treated as slaves by the affluent countries. He saw the effects of the curse of colonization. In his book Voyage of the Beagle he discussed how the White race had treated other races in an inhumane way. Being a scientist with a social conscience he wrote, “ It makes one’s blood boil, yet heart tremble to think that we Englishmen and our American descendents, with their boastful cry of liberty, have been and are so guilty.” (Ref 1 p 59)
After coming back from his trip of nearly five years he wrote about his observations and experiences and also organized his specimens. He approached different departments of geology and biology who welcomed his specimens. He started doing a detailed study and started organizing his thoughts.
While Darwin was organizing his theory he came across Charles Lyell who wrote Principles of Geology . Darwin was quite impressed by the book and the author and remained in touch with him for the rest of Lyell’s life.
With passage of time Darwin got seriously involved in geological, botanical as well as zoological research. He wrote and presented a number of papers about his research. He was gradually accepted by the academic circles of London and was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1837. In spite of presenting some of his research he was very quiet about his theory of evolution. He was aware that his theory was in conflict with the prevalent beliefs of his time. His biographers think, “ Church was a potent force and an establishment with which Darwin did not want to tangle with.” (Ref 1 p 106)
Darwin was basically a shy man who did not enjoy heated public debates. He was more of a scientist than a political revolutionary. He tried his best to avoid social, religious and political conflicts. Darwin did not share his ideas and theories with others for a long time. He was scared of negative reactions. But such secrecy was not healthy from an emotional point of view. He used to suffer emotionally and had developed a long list of psychosomatic problems, which did not respond well to medical treatments of his time. He also experienced a series of depressive episodes in his life after going through a number of significant emotional losses.
At the age of thirty Darwin got preoccupied with marriage. His teenage sweetheart Fanny Owen had married a wealthy minister John Hill. Since Darwin was a shy man he did not socialize with very many women. Finally he settled for his cousin Emma Wedgwood. Emma turned out to be a loving and caring wife. They had a number of children together.
Although Darwin started writing his masterpiece The Origin of Species in 1844, he did not publish it till 1859, at the age of fifty. There were a number of reasons for that delay. In spite of being a brilliant scientist, Darwin lacked confidence and was afraid of the reactions of others. His friend and mentor Charles Lyell supported Darwin’s scientific research but was not in agreement with his theory. His wife Emma was emotionally supportive but because of her religious beliefs did not support his theory of evolution. Disapproval of his wife and mentor played a major role in the delay of the publication of the book.
Darwin was also worried about the reaction of the religious people. He knew that followers of Old and New Testament, who believed in God and considered him the Creator would react strongly and negatively to his belief that “Man is no different to any other animal; perhaps there is no such thing as soul and the Old Testament tales of a Creation are mere fiction.” (Ref 1 p 183)
Darwin had lost faith not only in God but also in the sacredness of man. He was convinced that man was just one of the species on earth and would disappear one day. He wrote to Charles Lyell in one of his letters, “ I’m sorry to say I have no ‘consolatory view’ on the dignity of man. I am content that man will probably advance, and care not much whether we are looked at as mere savages in a remotely distant future.” (Ref 1 p 183) Darwin believed man was more similar than dissimilar than other animals.
Darwin might not have published his book The Origin of Species even in 1859 if he did not receive a paper by Alfred Wallace. Wallace was a young biologist, who came to similar conclusions as Darwin based on his limited observations. Wallace’s paper precipitated a panic in Darwin. He started worrying that if Wallace’s paper was presented before Darwin presented his theory he might not get all the credit. In a moment of desperation he thought “ Wallace had swept away twenty years’ work and that his own efforts had been waste of time.” (Ref 1 p 191)
Darwin discussed the dilemma with his close friends who suggested that Wallace and Darwin’s papers be presented simultaneously in the Linnean Society meeting. When Darwin suggested that to Wallace he readily agreed. Wallace had a lot of admiration for Darwin and knew that Darwin had been working diligently on the subject for years. Both papers were published in the September issue of the Proceedings of Linnean Society in September 1858. (Ref 1 p 192)
After that incident Darwin worked hard and completed his masterpiece in a few months. It is ironic that when the publishers saw the book, they were not very optimistic. They did not think it would be a great commercial success. They did not realize that they were publishing one of the greatest bestsellers of all times not only for scientists and intellectuals but also for lay people.
In his book The Origin of Species Darwin presented his theory of evolution in a systematic way. After reading the book people came to know that “ the theory of evolution contains two key ingredients, variation and selection. First, individuals in one generation reproduce to produce individuals in the next generation that are not exact copies of their parents. There is a variety of slightly different individuals, variation on a basic theme, in every generation. Second, natural selection acts on this variety of individuals, winnowing out those which are less fitted to their ecological …. And leaving only the fittest, in this sense of the word, to survive to reproduce in their turn.” (Ref 1 p 211)
Darwin had a biological perspective of life and was quite preoccupied with reproduction. On one hand he believed that “an individual that leaves no offspring is an evolutionary failure” and on the other hand believed that nature practiced natural selection by “preservation of favorable variations and the rejection of injurious variations.” Because of his preoccupation with the survival of the fittest Darwin used to ruminate about the health of his own children. He was worried that he had a genetic abnormality that he had passed on to his children.
After the publication of The Origin of Species there was a heated debate in Europe about the book. His friends and disciples defended him while his opponents attacked him from scientific as well as religious points of view. One of the most passionate debates between theology and science took place between Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford and Thomas Huxley. It was a debate between followers of the theory of evolution and the believers of creation. When the public debate reached its climax the Bishop stated, “ I should like to ask Professor Huxley, who is sitting by me, and is about to tear me to pieces when I have sat down, as his belief in being descended from an ape. Is it on his grandfather’s or grandmother’s side that the ape ancestry comes in?” Huxley was quick to respond to this sarcastic attack. He responded to fire with fire and retorted, “ I should feel it no shame to have risen from such an origin. But I should feel it a shame to have sprung from one who prostituted the gifts of culture and of eloquence to the service of prejudice and of falsehood.” (Ref 1 p 223) Huxley was openly critical of religious ideologies and institutions who promoted blind faith. He resented the ‘ignorance and social arrogance” of the clergy.
It was interesting for me to read that Darwin remained silent while there was a heated debate about his theory and book in England as well as other countries in Europe. He kept on working hard as a scientist and developing his theories. He remained more of a genuine intellectual than a political revolutionary. Darwin’s biographers believe that “there is no doubt that Huxley’s lectures did much to make the public aware of the name Darwin and concept of evolution.” (ref 1 p 227)
In his book The Origin of Species Darwin focused more on the evolution of birds and animals and did not focus on man. He expressed his philosophy about mankind in his later book The Descent of Man that was published in 1871. In that book he focused on human embryology and psychology and compared human beings with other animals. In his elegant way he expressed a “ clear statement of the evidence that human beings…every feature of human beings…had evolved in accordance with the same scientific rules that applied to all other forms of life on Earth.” (Ref 1 p 247)
Darwin’s hard work was to “overthrow the dogma of separate creations” (Ref 1 p 249) and prove that human beings follow the same genetic and biological laws that the lower animals follow. After the publication of The Descent of Man there was a renewal of the controversy about Darwin’s contributions to biology and science. He had created as many enemies as friends. In 1872 Zoological French Institute turned Charles Darwin down by stating his writings were “not science, but a mass of assertions and absolutely gratuitous hypotheses, often evidently fallacious. This kind of publication and these theories are a bad example, which a body that respects itself cannot encourage.”
While Darwin “never received a single civil honour in his own country” (Ref 1 p 230) and was vehemently criticized in France he was a great success in Germany. Famous German zoologist Ernst Haeckel was a great admirer of Darwin and promoted his theory of evolution. That was one reason Darwin’s books sold in Germany “in large numbers.” (Ref 1 p 231)
Darwin struggled with his health and the public controversy in the last few years of his life. Death of his brother really affected him seriously and soon after he died on April 19th, 1882.
In the last century more and more scientists and lay people are becoming aware that Charles Darwin was one of the greatest scientists of all times. His contributions were multi-faceted and multi-disciplinary. He worked for half a century quietly and diligently to add to the sea of knowledge. Although most people know him because of the Theory of Evolution yet his biographers feel that “there was far more to the science of Charles Darwin than the theory of evolution. Even without evolution Darwin would have been one of the great nineteenth century biologists, even without biology, he would have gone down in history as a great geologist.”
The world of science is still trying to appreciate the contributions of that scientist who changed not only the world of science but also the world of theology. In his personal life he was born in a Christian family who wanted him to become a minister and preach Christianity but died as an atheist and made many others atheists because of his scientific discoveries and contributions.
Darwin’s theory of evolution has forced millions of people all over the world to review their beliefs about God, scriptures, creation and special position of man in the universe. Those who welcome scientific research have changed their positions. Over the decades the number of scientists, biologists, intellectuals and lay people who believe in theory of evolution are increasing. Charles Darwin played a significant role in our understanding of life and promoted scientific thinking and humanistic philosophy. After fifty years of scientific and philosophical work Darwin tried to prove that human beings are created in the image of chimpanzee rather than the image of God and they are risen apes rather than fallen angels.
REFERENCES
1.White Michael and Gribbin John…Darwin…A Life in Science
Simon and Schuster Toronto Canada 1995
2. Darwin Charles…The Origin of Species..Penguin Books England 1959
3. Darwin Charles…The Descent of Man.Prometheus Books New York USA 1998
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