Charles Darwin is easily the most famous scientist of the modern age,
and his theory of evolution is constantly referenced in many contexts by
scientists and nonscientists alike. And yet, despite how frequently his
ideas are evoked, there remains a surprising amount we don't know about
the father of modern evolutionary thinking, his intellectual roots, and
the science he produced. Debating Darwin seeks to change that,
bringing together two leading Darwin scholars--Robert J. Richards and
Michael Ruse--to engage in a spirited and insightful dialogue, offering
their interpretations of Darwin and their critiques of each other's
thinking.
Examining key disagreements about Darwin that continue to confound even
committed Darwinists, Richards and Ruse offer divergent views on the
origins and nature of Darwin and his ideas. Ruse argues that Darwin was
quintessentially British and that the roots of his thought can be traced
back to the eighteenth century, particularly to the Industrial
Revolution and thinkers such as Adam Smith and Thomas Robert Malthus.
Ruse argues that when these influences are appreciated, we can see how
Darwin's work in biology is an extension of their theories. In contrast,
Richards presents Darwin as a more cosmopolitan, self-educated man,
influenced as much by French and particularly German thinkers. Above
all, argues Richards, it was Alexander von Humboldt who both inspired
Darwin and gave him the conceptual tools that he needed to find and
formulate his evolutionary hypotheses. Together, the authors show how
the reverberations of the contrasting views on Darwin's influences can
be felt in theories about the nature of natural selection, the role of
metaphor in science, and the place of God in Darwin's thought.
Revealing how much there still is to investigate and interrogate about
Darwin's ideas, Debating Darwin contributes to our understanding of
evolution itself. The book concludes with a jointly authored chapter
that brings this debate into the present, focusing on human evolution,
consciousness, religion, and morality. This will be powerful, essential
reading for anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of modern-day
evolutionary science and philosophy.
