Abstract
This is Darwin’s balanced view of man and we want in this chapter to see if he went as far as denying the soul and if so how it would affect our understanding of the human.
We must however acknowledge … that man with all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his god-like intellect which has penetrated in the movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted powers—man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
Descent of Man (1871)
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Notes
Len Fisher, Weighing the Soul: The Evolution of Scientific Beliefs. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2004, p. 231.
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of Charles Darwin: His Autobiographical Writings Selected by Christopher Railing. BBC, London: Ariel Books, 1982, p. 135.
Missionaries commended in his letters xiv, p. 49. On finding strong feelings at Cape Town against missionaries, Fitzroy and Darwin published a defense of their work in the South African Christian Recorder, p. 213. Charles Darwin’s Letters: A Selection 1835–1859, ed. Frederick Burkhardt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Howard E. Gruber and Paul Barrett, Darwin on Man: A Psychological Study of Scientific Creativity. London: Wildwood House, 1974, p. 209. This is a discussion of Darwin’s private “M” and “N” notebooks on the use of evolution to explain mind and morality.
B. S. Beckett, Biology, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. p. 235.
Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1879. Intro. James Moore and Adrian Desmond. London: Penguin, 2004, p. 81.
James Moore, Humanities Block. Milton Keyes: Oxford University Press, 1998, pp. 134, 143.
Robert Crawford, What Is Religion? London: Routledge, 2002, p. 129.
Alister Hardy, Darwin and the Spirit of Man. London: Collins, 1984, p.76.
Charles Darwin, The Voyage of Charles Darwin: His Autobiographical Writings Selected by Christopher Railing. BBC, London: Ariel Books, 1982, p. 14.
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© 2011 Robert Crawford
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Crawford, R. (2011). Did Darwin Kill the Soul?. In: The Battle for the Soul. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230118331_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230118331_10
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