Tag Archives: Charles Lyell

young darwin: denial of the fittest

…Darwin himself was a lover of nature, a collector and sportsman, before he was a man of science. He grew up with the tastes of an English provincial gentleman at a time whn hunting, shooting, and the breeding of horses … Continue reading

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darwin: insufferable biding of time

…The voyage of the Beagle was, as he said himself, the formative experience of Darwin’s life. He lived hard, working in the cramped conditions of a sailing ship, rounding Cape Horn and making expeditions hundreds of miles inland through dangerous … Continue reading

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darwin: going rogue on rational

…The clergyman had probably been educated, as Darwin himself had been, in that school of Christian apologetics known as “Rational Christianity,” of which the work of Darwin’s neighbor in death and fame, Isaac Newton, had been the chief inspiration. Rational … Continue reading

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darwin: bug hunting as trojan horse

…Moreover, men were beginning to have some understanding of the complex interactions in nature, of the contribution to the animal and vegetable “balance” of even the noxious and disagreeable. To pursue in any detail the pleasing evidences of divine purpose … Continue reading

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benevolent nature: and then came darwin

…The world was not only imaginatively comprehensible, it was benevolently ordered. It is true that, ever since Copernicus and Galileo, the earth could no longer be regarded as the center of the universe; the music of the spheres was stilled. … Continue reading

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darwin: everything is amazing and nobody’s happy

…Charles Darwin’s body lies in Westminster Abbey, close to the grave of Sir Isaac Newton. It is a proximity which few would challenge, nor is there any oddity in the presence there of Newton, devout Christian and Biblical scholar that … Continue reading

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darwin: doubting the fixity of species

…The folklore of scientific invention and discovery has left no striking tale of the revelation to Darwin of the clue of the origin of species, like Newton’s apple, Stephenson’s kettle lid, or Galileo dropping weights from the leaning tower of … Continue reading

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darwin: dispensing with adam

…Darwin took with him on his voyage, besides his own knowledge and aptitudes, one indispensable tool for interpreting what he saw. Before sailing, Henslow pressed upon him the recently published first volume of Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology., with instructions … Continue reading

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