Charles Darwin
Darwin was one of the most influential men in history. His theory of
evolution transformed the world's view of itself in several ways.
First, Darwin continued the trend of loss of uniqueness with regard
to humankind's view of itself. The naive view of humans as unique and
specially created had been under siege since the late Middle Ages
(i.e., Galileo and Copernicus). Darwin's theory provided continuity
between humans and the rest of nature. Second, Darwin's mechanism of
natural selection provided a plausible substitute for creationism,
even though Darwin could not provide the details of natural
selection. Those details came to light as the science of genetics was
born and the theory of evolution merged with genetics to provide the
"modern synthesis of biology." Darwin's notion of survival of
the fittest was wrong. Instead, modern evolutionary theory
substitutes reproduction of the fittest, or differential
reproductive success. Third, Darwin pushed back the time horizon of
the history of the universe. Instead of Bishop Usher's thousands of
years (since the Flood), we now argue over 10-20 billion years (since
the Big Bang).
Comments
Darwin's effect on science and other areas of human activity
cannot be minimized. Some continue to resist the logic and data of
evolution in the name of religious literalism. Interestingly, such
conflict need not occur as many denominations have demonstrated.
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