From Darwin and the Science of Evolution by Patrick Tort
From Darwin and the Science of Evolution by Patrick Tort |
If on a walk through a field, you one day happened upon a watch, that watch would prove something, namely the existence of a watchmaker. So, too, William Paley asserted in his Natural Theology, the design of the universe testified to the existence of an intelligent designer. Moreover, Paley argued that life was unfailingly harmonious and happy.
It is a happy world after all. The air, the earth, the water, teem with delighted existence. In a spring noon, or a summer evening, on whatever side I turn my eyes, myriads of happy beings crowd upon my view.
Such a joyous world couldn't come about by chance, only by providence. The kind creator Paley envisioned brought order to the universe and intended for humans to recognize and appreciate that order. In his view, goodness and happiness were the same thing, as were suffering and evil. Nature itself was a moral treatise.
In his autobiography, Charles Darwin recalled Paley's work, praising his clear, concise writing style and describing Paley's writings as one of the best parts of Darwin's own education. At the time, Darwin was in fact quite orthodox, later recounting, "I did not then in the least doubt the strict and literal truth of every word in the Bible." Darwin did not, he later admitted, think much about Paley's premises at the time, instead taking them "on trust." That trust later disappeared. Darwin eventually concluded that the writings of Thomas Malthus provided more reliable, if less reassuring, evidence. He determined that far more offspring are produced than can possibly survive, and competition for resources shapes living organisms. Darwin voiced his doubts.
We behold the face of nature bright with gladness, we often see superabundance of food; we do not see, or we forget, that the birds which are idly singing round us mostly live on insects or seeds, and are thus constantly destroying life; or we forget how largely these songsters, or their eggs, or their nestlings, are destroyed by birds or beasts of prey; we do not always bear in mind, that though food may be now superabundant, it is not so at all seasons of each recurring year.
For more information:
Evolution by Linda Gamlin
Darwin and the Science of Evolution by Patrick Tort
Victorian Sensation by James A. Secord
Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
Autobiography of Charles Darwin by Francis Darwin
Evolution by Edward J. Larson
Narrative text and graphic design © by Michon Scott - Updated August 21, 2005