We’ve been reading Charles Darwin all wrong

[Frank Robert]

We've been reading Charles Darwin all wrong | America Magazine

Was Charles Darwin a Darwinist?

This is a question we would do well to ponder in regard to Darwin’s The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, which was published just over 150 years ago, in 1871. Darwin always described this volume as his “big book,” in preference to his more famous On the Origin of Species. It was the first to deal at length with a recognizable theory of natural selection and also marked Darwin’s first public use of the word “evolution.” The book did not in fact originate the term “survival of the fittest”—the English philosopher-biologist Herbert Spencer had first used it in 1864—but it does offer an introduction to what later became known as Social Darwinism, or eugenics.​

For many people today, Darwin has become a sort of secular deity, an icon for atheism.

This was of course a ghastly perversion of Darwinian theory, and in particular of The Descent of Man. But it is worth mentioning here if only to show the ease with which Darwin’s teaching has been crudely misappropriated by successive generations of intellectually dubious adherents.​

Read More at American Magazine

 

[public hermit]

I blame Christians as much as anyone for the misunderstanding of Darwin and the theory of evolution. Atheists have not turned Darwinism into a religion; Christians have by making it antithetical to faith. It's just one more example of Christians shooting themselves in the foot and then trying to blame anyone else.

 

[AV1611VET]

Atheists have not turned Darwinism into a religion;

Maybe not, but they've bestowed some pretty hefty accolades on him:

1. Epithet: The Father of Evolution
2. Burial Place: Westminster Abbey
3. Profile Dissemination: face on £10 note
   
4. Place Name: Capital of Australia's Northern Territory
5. Commemorative Holiday: February 12 - Darwin Day

 

[Frank Robert]

Maybe not, but they've bestowed some pretty hefty accolades on him:

1. Epithet: The Father of Evolution
2. Burial Place: Westminster Abbey
3. Profile Dissemination: face on £10 note
   
4. Place Name: Capital of Australia's Northern Territory
5. Commemorative Holiday: February 12 - Darwin Day

Sounds right. It's what we do in recognition of extraordinary scientific contributions.

 

[public hermit]

Maybe not, but they've bestowed some pretty hefty accolades on him:

1. Epithet: The Father of Evolution
2. Burial Place: Westminster Abbey
3. Profile Dissemination: face on £10 note
   
4. Place Name: Capital of Australia's Northern Territory
5. Commemorative Holiday: February 12 - Darwin Day

Atheists did all that?

 

[AV1611VET]

Sounds right. It's what we do in recognition of extraordinary scientific contributions.

What's ironic though, is when they're found to be wrong later, or some part of their theory is found to be wrong.

They should hand out awards to those who got their fifteen minutes of fame, then later, were found to be wrong due to later discoveries.

Said awards should be called: "Tombaugh Awards".

I can think of a few who should get them.

 

[AV1611VET]

Atheists did all that?

Beats me.

 

[public hermit]

Beats me.

Okay, my mistake. I thought you were saying atheists have bestowed a number of accolades on Darwin. Actually, I still think you said that.

 

[AV1611VET]

Okay, my mistake. I thought you were saying atheists have bestowed a number of accolades on Darwin. Actually, I still think you said that.

No, not at all.

 

[Frank Robert]

What's ironic though, is when they're found to be wrong later, or some part of their theory is found to be wrong.

They should hand out awards to those who got their fifteen minutes of fame, then later, were found to be wrong due to later discoveries.

Said awards should be called: "Tombaugh Awards".

I can think of a few who should get them.

You need to consider the total and ongoing effect of Darwin's theories. Were all them correct? Not a chance. Science is self-correcting and Darwin's insights will be added on and corrected with new evidence for the foreseeable future.

If you haven't read the whole article you should. It is not long and it is insightful in some of the ways in which Darwin has be misinterpreted and misrepresented.

 

[honestal]

At the risk of again being accused of quote mining , here's one that I think is worth considering:

"Looking back through the prodigious vista of the past, I find no record of the commencement of life and therefore I am devoid of any means of forming a definite conclusion as to the conditions of its appearance. Belief, in the scientific sense of the word, is a serious matter, and needs strong foundations. To say, therefore, in the admitted absence of evidence, that I have any belief as to the mode in which the existing forms of life have originated, would be using words in a wrong sense... I beg you once more to recollect that I have no right to call my opinion anything but an act of philosophical faith." {Charles Darwin, Discourses Biological and Geographical, pgs. 257, 258}

I don't know if it's true, but I once heard that the only degree Darwin possessed was in theology.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

Maybe not, but they've bestowed some pretty hefty accolades on him:

1. Epithet: The Father of Evolution
2. Burial Place: Westminster Abbey
3. Profile Dissemination: face on £10 note
   
4. Place Name: Capital of Australia's Northern Territory
5. Commemorative Holiday: February 12 - Darwin Day

Are these the same atheists you claim have 'miracles = magic!'?

At the risk of again being accused of quote mining , here's one that I think is worth considering:

"Looking back through the prodigious vista of the past, I find no record of the commencement of life and therefore I am devoid of any means of forming a definite conclusion as to the conditions of its appearance. Belief, in the scientific sense of the word, is a serious matter, and needs strong foundations. To say, therefore, in the admitted absence of evidence, that I have any belief as to the mode in which the existing forms of life have originated, would be using words in a wrong sense... I beg you once more to recollect that I have no right to call my opinion anything but an act of philosophical faith." {Charles Darwin, Discourses Biological and Geographical, pgs. 257, 258}

I don't know if it's true, but I once heard that the only degree Darwin possessed was in theology.

Charles Darwin's personal thoughts on how life began don't negate anything he said about the theory of evolution. Evolution is how live evolved, about how it changed when there was living animals, not how live began.

 

[AV1611VET]

Are these the same atheists you claim have 'miracles = magic!'?

What atheists are you talking about?

And for the record, rumor has it that Mr Darwin recanted on his death bed (or some six months prior).

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

What atheists are you talking about?

And for the record, rumor has it that Mr Darwin recanted on his death bed (or some six months prior).

The ones you claim turned miracles into magic.

And that's a rumour that can't be substantiated, been thoroughly debunked by his children, and also has no baring on the fact that the theory of evolution does not end with Charles Darwin.

 

[Shemjaza]

Maybe not, but they've bestowed some pretty hefty accolades on him:
Place Name: Capital of Australia's Northern Territory

You have to remember that Darwin is a pretty unimportant city... and that Australia is really bad at naming things, we even named two of our States after the same woman (Victoria and Queensland).

 

[Shemjaza]

What atheists are you talking about?

And for the record, rumor has it that Mr Darwin recanted on his death bed (or some six months prior).

A rumour that doesn't appear to have any justification.

I don't typically find Answers in Genesis a reliable source of information, but they would have zero motivation not to spread this story, were it true.

However, they label it a legend and doubt it's veracity: Darwin's Deathbed Conversion - a Legend?

 

[AV1611VET]

A rumour that doesn't appear to have any justification.

I think it really happened.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

I think it really happened.

You can think it did so, but there's a lot of evidence that shows you're wrong in thinking so.

 

[AV1611VET]

You can think it did so, but there's a lot of evidence that shows you're wrong in thinking so.

I don't think so.

 

[Warden_of_the_Storm]

I don't think so.

Again, you can think so, but there's a lot of evidence that shows you're wrong in thinking so.