Stephen E. Jones

Creation/Evolution Quotes: History #3: Darwin's Origin of Species

[Quotes] [History, #1, #2, #4, #5]

History #3: Darwin's Origin of Species

1. Darwin's primary objective was religious
• "I had two distinct objects in view; firstly, to shew that species had not been separately created ..."
2. Was speculative
• Darwin admitted was "grievously hypothetical"
3. Darwin's a priori reasoning in took precedence over the facts
• Darwin's brother Erasmus preferred Darwin's apriori reasoning in even if it did not fit the facts
4. Did not really explain the origin of species
• "Darwin did not really explain the origin of new species in The Origin of Species"
5. Darwin used fallacious arguments in
• "His Chapter ... on the imperfections of the geological record is one long ad hoc, special-pleading argument designed to ... explain away, the differences between .. his theory and the facts of the fossil record"

History #3: Darwin's Origin of Species

1. Darwin's primary objective was religious
• "I had two distinct objects in view; firstly, to shew that species had not been separately created ..."

"I may be permitted to say, as some excuse, that [in The Origin of Species] I had two distinct objects in view; firstly, to shew that species had not been separately created, and secondly, that natural selection had been the chief agent of change .. Some of those who admit the principle of evolution, but reject natural selection, seem to forget, when criticizing my book, that I had the above two objects in view; hence if I have erred in giving to natural selection great power, which I am very far from admitting, or in having exaggerated its power, which is in itself probable, I have at least, as I hope, done good service in aiding to overthrow the dogma of separate creations." (Darwin C.R., "The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex," [1871], John Murray: London, Second Edition, 1922, reprint, p.92) [top]

2. Was speculative
• Darwin admitted his Origin of Species was "grievously hypothetical"

"This shall be such an extraordinary note as you have never received from me, for it shall not contain one single question or request. I thank you for your impression on my views. Every criticism from a good man is of value to me. What you hint at generally is very, very true: that my work will be grievously hypothetical, and large parts by no means worthy of being called induction, my commonest error being probably induction from too few facts." (Darwin C.R., letter to Asa Gray of November 29, 1859, in Darwin F., ed., "More Letters of Charles Darwin," John Murray: London, 1903, Vol. I, pp.126-127). [top]

3. Darwin's a priori reasoning in took precedence over the facts
• Darwin's brother Erasmus preferred Darwin's apriori reasoning in even if it did not fit the facts

"In fact the a priori reasoning is so entirely satisfactory to me that if the facts won't fit in, why so much the worse for the facts is my feeling." (Erasmus Darwin, in a letter to his brother Charles, after reading his new book, "The Origin of Species," in Darwin F., ed., "The Life of Charles Darwin," [1902], Senate: London, 1995, reprint, p215). [top]

4. Did not really explain the origin of species
• "Darwin did not really explain the origin of new species in The Origin of Species"

"One of the ironies of the history of biology is that Darwin did not really explain the origin of new species in The Origin of Species, because he didn't know how to define species. The Origin was in fact concerned mostly with how a single species might change in time, not how one species might proliferate into many." (Futuyma D.J., "Science on Trial: The Case for Evolution," Pantheon: New York NY, 1982, p.152). [top]

5. Darwin used fallacious arguments in
• "His Chapter ... on the imperfections of the geological record is one long ad hoc, special-pleading argument designed to ...explain away, the differences between .. his theory and the facts of the fossil record"

"Yet Teggart once again points out the truly interesting lesson of Darwin's confrontation with the fossil record. Darwin's early scientific experience was primarily as a geologist, and much of what he had to say about the nature of the fossil record (summarized in the passage quoted above) was an accurate and insightful early contribution to our understanding of the vagaries of deposition and the preservation of fossils. But his Chapter 9 (first edition) on the imperfections of the geological record is one long ad hoc, special-pleading argument designed to rationalize, to flat-out explain away, the differences between what he saw as logical predictions derived from his theory and the facts of the fossil record." (Eldredge N., "Time Frames: The Rethinking of Darwinian Evolution and the Theory of Punctuated Equilibria," Simon & Schuster: New York, 1985, pp.27-28). [top]

* Authors with an asterisk against their name are believed not to be evolutionists.