Darwin, Then and Now

After returning with the HMS Beagle in 1836, Darwin never left the shoreline of England again. Darwin took the enlightenment and unrelenting and grueling hardships of the voyage to construct a new purpose for life—writing. In his autobiography, Darwin explains: “As far as I can judge of myself, I worked to the utmost during the voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my strong desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in Natural Science.”

 Darwin goal was to achieve a noticeable place in history: “But I was also ambitious to take fair place among scientific men – whether more ambitious or less so then most of my fellow-workers, I can form no opinion.” Without question, Darwin has met that goal. Darwinism is today’s most contentious cultural and scientific topics.

The scientific method was not in Darwin’s toolbox, however. While Newton had demonstrated the value of the scientific method, for Darwin science stood in the way of the theory: “My error has been a good lesson to me never to trust in science to the principle of exclusion.” For Darwin, the evidence was an obstacle, not a trump card.

Recognizng Darwin’s shroud of science, Richard Owen from the Royal College of Surgeons that had originally surveyed Darwin’s work declared that the Origin of Species was strictly an “abuse of science.” Actually, Darwin clearly acknowledged, “I am quite conscious that my speculations run quite beyond the bounds of true science.”

Had Darwin not gone “beyond the bounds” and adhered to the scientific method, would Darwinism have lead to such a stormy and contentious history?