History UsefulNotes / CharlesDarwin

Darwin would be absolutely disgusted by these {{Social Darwinist}}s misinterpreting his work for use in {{Realpolitik}}, and ''was'' disgusted and horrified by the slave trade, as had been his grandfather Erasmus Darwin and wife Emma's grandfather, Josiah Wedgewood, both prominent abolitionists[[note]]In the original editions (1839 and 1845) of his ''Journal of Researches'' he treats quite casually most hardships of the expedition. There is just one thing, over 5 years exposed in more than 500 pages, which made him loose his cool head altogether: slavery witnessed in South America, in Chapters I, [=II=] and [=XXI=]. One can almost feel he wrote them gnashing his teeth in rage[[/note]]. He considered this interpretation impractical, and disagreed with it on scientific grounds, as well as moral ones. Although he analyzed the supposed negative effect that the "weak" caused by "propagating their kind," he cautioned that to allow hard reason to override sympathy would have an even worse effect: "A deterioration in the noblest part of our nature." At any rate, the idea that certain types of people were "superior" to other types wasn't exactly a new idea (remember that whole slavery thing?). Darwin's studies just gave some people the chance to claim that biology supported such views. In any case, Darwin's idea of 'survival of the fittest' referred to individuals and species fitting into a niche in nature, [[CompletelyMissingThePoint not comparing the attributes of one species to another.]] One could say that the cat is 'superior' or 'fitter' than the mouse, but the mouse still has a niche into which it fits very nicely and continues to thrive.

Darwin would be absolutely disgusted by these {{Social Darwinist}}s misinterpreting his work for use in {{Realpolitik}}, and ''was'' disgusted and horrified by the slave trade, as had been his grandfather Erasmus Darwin and wife Emma's grandfather, Josiah Wedgewood, both prominent abolitionists. He considered this interpretation impractical, and disagreed with it on scientific grounds, as well as moral ones. Although he analyzed the supposed negative effect that the "weak" caused by "propagating their kind," he cautioned that to allow hard reason to override sympathy would have an even worse effect: "A deterioration in the noblest part of our nature." At any rate, the idea that certain types of people were "superior" to other types wasn't exactly a new idea (remember that whole slavery thing?). Darwin's studies just gave some people the chance to claim that biology supported such views. In any case, Darwin's idea of 'survival of the fittest' referred to individuals and species fitting into a niche in nature, [[CompletelyMissingThePoint not comparing the attributes of one species to another.]] One could say that the cat is 'superior' or 'fitter' than the mouse, but the mouse still has a niche into which it fits very nicely and continues to thrive.

The book was an instant bestseller, and [[SeriousBusiness debates over God, creation, science, ethics, the place of man, the meaning in life and other such philosophical concepts began almost immediately, continuing to this day.]] Darwin never actively joined in with the debate, leaving the fighting to his more pugnacious friends; T.H. Huxley was dubbed "Darwin's Bulldog" for his staunch defence of the theory, leading eventually to UsefulNotes/RichardDawkins being dubbed "Darwin's Rottweiler" by some. Interestingly, the ''initial'' controversy over the theory had little to do with religion directly, and focused more on the revelation by Darwin that the green and pleasant scenes so familiar to the English country gentleman of the time were, in fact, vast battlefields where species and individuals were locked into an unending cycle of conflict; if this seems surprising to you, consider that the issue of the evolution of mankind as a species was barely touched on in ''Origin'', that subject being tackled instead by a later volume, ''The Descent of Man'' (Not to be confused with ''The Ascent of Man'', which [[{{Pun}} evolved]] its title from that work). His name has also been associated with {{Social Darwinism}}, which is the application of his ideas to nations and the human race, notably advocated by his cousin, Sir Francis Galton, as well as Herbert Spencer.

* Darwin has a small cameo in the original ''Discworld/TheScienceOfDiscworld''. The second sequel, ''Darwin's Watch'', centers around a conspiracy to hold back the progress of science on "Roundworld" by introducing Darwin to Discworld's God of Evolution, leading him to write a book about intelligently guided evolution instead. ''Theology of Species'' is embraced without controversy by theologians and scientists alike and leads to humanity getting stuck on a theological--scientific view for a long time.
** Said God of Evolution was first seen in ''Discworld/TheLastContinent'', and is a fairly obvious ringer for Darwin himself,along with having a rather inordinate passion for beetles.

Darwin would be absolutely disgusted by these {{Social Darwinist}}s misinterpreting his work for use in {{Realpolitik}}, and ''was'' disgusted and horrified by the slave trade, as had been his grandfather Erasmus Darwin and wife Emma's grandfather, Josiah Wedgewood, both prominent abolitionists. He considered this interpretation impractical, and disagreed with it on scientific grounds, as well as moral ones. Although he analyzed the supposed negative effect that the "weak" caused by "propagating their kind," he cautioned that to allow hard reason to override sympathy would have an even worse effect: "A deterioration in the noblest part of our nature." At any rate, the idea that certain types of people were "superior" to other types wasn't exactly a new idea (remember that whole slavery thing?). Darwin's studies just gave some people the chance to claim that biology supported such views.

During the trip, Darwin sent back massive amounts of fossils and specimens, and filled journal after journal with the observations (especially those on the Galapagos Islands) of common traits that would eventually lead to his initial theories. Despite all this, the trip was not that pleasant for Darwin, as he spent most of his time on the water violently seasick, contracted a debilitating disease, and fell out with [=FitzRoy=] on several occasions. Despite their arguments, Darwin and [=FitzRoy=] remained friends for years after the voyage - when [=FitzRoy=] committed suicide, Darwin contributed the equivalent of about £10,000 (in today's money) to assist his wife and orphan daughter. The disease Darwin contracted was possibly [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease Chagas disease]], as he studied the feeding habits of bloodsucking Assassin Bugs by ''letting them bite him''. Whatever the illness was, it plagued him for the rest of his life.

His ideas did ''not'' inspire either the Soviet Union or the Nazis. Well, they did and they didn't. On the one hand, the Nazis [[BannedInChina banned his work]] (''On The Origin Of Species'' was one of the first books to be burned by them), and the Soviet denounced it as "bourgeois science", instead [[LamarckWasRight promoting a neo-Lamarckian view of evolution]], which hampered their biological research for decades, until they had to abandon it (they also attempted something similar with UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein's theories, but thanks in large part to Vladimir Fock, it didn't stick). On the other hand, it is true that the Nazis were seriously influenced by Social Darwinism, particularly German racist Social Darwinism--which, as we've noted already, twisted Darwin's work in a matter that utterly disgusted him. On the other end of the spectrum, Creator/KarlMarx saw a resonance between Darwin's ideas and his own, which saw the impersonal forces of Nature (in Darwin's case)/History (in Marx's case) driving change; Marx moreover pulled that idea over into believing that the proletariat was best fit to the new industrial world, and would therefore be the "champions" of the social "evolutionary race." Friedrich Engels, in his eulogy for Marx, explicitly called Marx the Darwin of the social sciences, for bringing materialism and data into what had previously been a realm of pure speculation. However, Marx misunderstood Darwin only a bit less than the German racists did--had he been a true Darwinist, he would have realized that evolution doesn't have a "goal" or "winners," only survivors, and would've been more circumspect about predicting the future.

The book was an instant bestseller, and [[SeriousBusiness debates over God, creation, science, ethics, the place of man, the meaning in life and other such philosophical concepts began almost immediately, continuing to this day.]] Darwin never actively joined in with the debate, leaving the fighting to his more pugnacious friends; T.H. Huxley was dubbed "Darwin's Bulldog" for his staunch defence of the theory, leading eventually to UsefulNotes/RichardDawkins being dubbed "Darwin's Rottweiler" by some. Interestingly, the ''initial'' controversy over the theory had little to do with religion directly, and focused more on the revelation by Darwin that the green and pleasant scenes so familiar to the English country gentleman of the time were, in fact, vast battlefields where species and individuals were locked into an unending cycle of conflict; if this seems surprising to you, consider that the issue of the evolution of mankind as a species was barely touched on in ''Origin'', that subject being tackled instead by a later volume, ''The Descent of Man'' (Not to be confused with ''{{The Ascent of Man}}'', which [[{{Pun}} evolved]] its title from that work). His name has also been associated with {{Social Darwinism}}, which is the application of his ideas to nations and the human race, notably advocated by his cousin, Sir Francis Galton, as well as Herbert Spencer.

During the trip, Darwin sent back massive amounts of fossils and specimens, and filled journal after journal with the observations (especially those on the Galapagos Islands) of common traits that would eventually lead to his initial theories. Despite all this, the trip was not that pleasant for Darwin, as he spent most of his time on the water violently seasick, contracted a debilitating disease, and fell out with [=FitzRoy=] on several occasions. Despite their arguments, Darwin and [=FitzRoy=] remained friends for years after the voyage - when [=FitzRoy=] committed suicide, Darwin contributed the equivalent of about £10,000 (in today's money) to assist his wife and orphan daughter. The disease Darwin contracted was possibly [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease Chagas disease]], as he studied the feeding habits of bloodsucking Asassin Bugs by ''letting them bite him''. Whatever the illness was, it plagued him for the rest of his life.

* Darwin was voted the #4 "Greatest Briton" on ''Series/OneHundredGreatestBritons''.

By 1831, Darwin was all set for a life of peace and obscurity when he received an [[CallToAdventure invitation]] to join a two-year around the world voyage on the HMS ''Beagle'' as the captain's companion (not like [[Series/DoctorWho that]], or ''[[HelloSailor that]]''; at the time, being captain on a small surveying ship like the ''Beagle'' was a lonely job, as they could not fraternize with the enlisted crew, and with few officers aboard, a companion was usually hired to provide a source of intelligent conversation). Captain [=FitzRoy=] was particularly keen to have a companion, since the previous master of the Beagle had [[DrivenToSuicide committed suicide]]. During the trip, he sent back massive amounts of fossils and specimens, and filled journal after journal with the observations (especially those on the Galapagos Islands) of common traits that would eventually lead to his initial theories. Despite all this, the trip was not that pleasant for Darwin, as he spent most of his time on the water violently seasick, contracted a debilitating disease, and fell out with [=FitzRoy=] on several occasions. Despite their arguments, Darwin and [=FitzRoy=] remained friends for years after the voyage - when [=FitzRoy=] committed suicide, Darwin contributed the equivalent of about £10,000 (in today's money) to assist his wife and orphan daughter. The disease Darwin contracted was possibly [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chagas_disease Chagas disease]], as he studied the feeding habits of bloodsucking Asassin Bugs by ''letting them bite him''. Whatever the illness was, it plagued him for the rest of his life.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an English naturalist who first put forward the theory of evolution due to natural selection, stating that the spectrum of differences seen in life on Earth were due to a slow accumulation of change over many generations, selected via environmental pressures. This theory, though it has been significantly fine-tuned since Darwin's day, is the cornerstone of modern biology.

The book was an instant bestseller, and [[SeriousBusiness debates over God, creation, science, ethics, the place of man, the meaning in life and other such philosophical concepts began almost immediately, continuing to this day.]] Darwin never actively joined in with the debate, leaving the fighting to his more pugnacious friends; T.H. Huxley was dubbed "Darwin's Bulldog" for his staunch defence of the theory, leading eventually to UsefulNotes/RichardDawkins being dubbed "Darwin's Rottweiler" by some. Interestingly, the ''initial'' controversy over the theory had little to do with religion directly, and focused more on the revelation by Darwin that the green and pleasant scenes so familiar to the English country gentleman of the time were, in fact, vast battlefields where species and individuals were locked into an unending cycle of conflict; if this seems surprising to you, consider that the issue of the evolution of mankind as a species was barely touched on in ''Origin'', that subject being tackled instead by a later volume, ''The Descent of Man'' (Not to be confused with ''{{The Ascent of Man}}'', which [[IncrediblyLamePun evolved]] its title from that work). His name has also been associated with {{Social Darwinism}}, which is the application of his ideas to nations and the human race, notably advocated by his cousin, Sir Francis Galton, as well as Herbert Spencer.

* Darwin appears briefly in the original ''Discworld/TheScienceOfDiscworld''. The second sequel, ''Darwin's Watch'', centers around a conspiracy to hold back the progress of science on "Roundworld" by introducing Darwin to Discworld's God of Evolution, leading him to write a book about intelligently guided evolution instead. ''Theology of Species'' is embraced without controversy by theologians and scientists alike and leads to humanity getting stuck on a theological--scientific view for a long time.

It is held by certain (ill-informed) persons that he recanted his theory on his death bed, in the presence of a woman named Lady Hope. This is wrong on two distinct levels: strictly on a factual basis, the woman calling herself "Lady Hope" was not present during his last illness, or indeed ''any'' of his illnesses, according to the testimony of Darwin's daughter. Secondly, even if Darwin ''did'' recant (which he showed no sign of doing) to Lady Hope (who he may never have actually met), Science strives to operate on evidence rather than personal opinion; The evidence gathered in the century and a half since ''Origin Of Species'' has so far failed to produce any indication that the basic premises of Darwin's theory are wrong.

* Darwin appears briefly in the original ''Discworld/TheScienceOfDiscworld''. The second sequel, ''Darwin's Watch'', centers around a conspiracy to hold back the progress of science on "Roundworld" by introducing Darwin to Discworld's God of Evolution, leading him to write a book about intelligently guided evolution instead. ''Theology of Species'' is embraced without controversy by theologians and scientists alike and leading to humanity getting stuck on a theological--scientific view for a long time.

* Darwin appears briefly in the original ''Discworld/TheScienceOfDiscworld''. The second sequel, ''Darwin's Watch'', centers around a conspiracy to hold back the progress of science on "Roundworld" by introducing Darwin to Discworld's God of Evolution, leading him to write a book about intelligently guided evolution instead -- embraced without controversy by theologians and scientists alike and leading to humanity getting stuck on a theological--scientific view for a long time.

* Darwin appears briefly in the original ''Discworld/TheScienceOfDiscworld''. The second sequel, ''Darwin's Watch'', centers around a conspiracy to hold back the progress of science on "Roundworld" by introducing Darwin to Discworld's God of Evolution, leading him to write a book about intelligently guided evolution instead -- embraced by theologians and scientists alike and leading to humanity getting stuck on a theological--scientific view for a long time.

His ideas did ''not'' inspire either the Soviet Union or the Nazis. Well, they did and they didn't. On the one hand, the Nazis [[BannedInChina banned his work]] (''On The Origin Of Species'' was one of the first books to be burned by them), and the Soviet denounced it as "bourgeois science", instead [[LamarckWasRight promoting a neo-Lamarckian view of evolution]], which hampered their biological research for decades, until they had to abandon it (they also attempted something similar with AlbertEinstein's theories, but thanks in large part to Vladimir Fock, it didn't stick). On the other hand, it is true that the Nazis were seriously influenced by Social Darwinism, particularly German racist Social Darwinism--which, as we've noted already, twisted Darwin's work in a matter that utterly disgusted him. On the other end of the spectrum, Creator/KarlMarx saw a resonance between Darwin's ideas and his own, which saw the impersonal forces of Nature (in Darwin's case)/History (in Marx's case) driving change; Marx moreover pulled that idea over into believing that the proletariat was best fit to the new industrial world, and would therefore be the "champions" of the social "evolutionary race." Friedrich Engels, in his eulogy for Marx, explicitly called Marx the Darwin of the social sciences, for bringing materialism and data into what had previously been a realm of pure speculation. However, Marx misunderstood Darwin only a bit less than the German racists did--had he been a true Darwinist, he would have realized that evolution doesn't have a "goal" or "winners," only survivors, and would've been more circumspect about predicting the future.

->''Everything we know about life, Darwin essentially explained.''

[[KissingCousins He and Emma were first cousins]] - Darwin felt guilty about this because he believed it might have led to their children being weak, one daughter dying tragically of illness while very young. He is usually seen in fiction as an old man with a BadassBeard, but he wasn't always like that. The picture at the top of the page shows he was a bit of MrFanservice in his younger days (think NerdsAreSexy). Darwin was also an expert in pigeon breeding, orchids, earthworms and (of all things) [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking sea barnacles]][[note]]The compartmentalisation of sexual function within Barnacles led to Darwin speculating on the evolution of sexual dimorphism, i.e. how Male and Female came to be seperate entities in most forms of life[[/note]].

----

The book was an instant bestseller, and [[SeriousBusiness debates over God, creation, science, ethics, the place of man, the meaning in life and other such philosophical concepts began almost immediately, continuing to this day.]] Darwin never actively joined in with the debate, leaving the fighting to his more pugnacious friends; T.H. Huxley was dubbed "Darwin's Bulldog" for his staunch defence of the theory, leading eventually to RichardDawkins being dubbed "Darwin's Rottweiler" by some. Interestingly, the ''initial'' controversy over the theory had little to do with religion directly, and focused more on the revelation by Darwin that the green and pleasant scenes so familiar to the English country gentleman of the time were, in fact, vast battlefields where species and individuals were locked into an unending cycle of conflict; if this seems surprising to you, consider that the issue of the evolution of mankind as a species was barely touched on in ''Origin'', that subject being tackled instead by a later volume, ''The Descent of Man'' (Not to be confused with ''{{The Ascent of Man}}'', which [[IncrediblyLamePun evolved]] its title from that work). His name has also been associated with {{Social Darwinism}}, which is the application of his ideas to nations and the human race, notably advocated by his cousin, Sir Francis Galton, as well as Herbert Spencer.