"The one who does not Look, Like the Savage, at the Phenomena of Nature as Something Incongruous, Can't Think Any More That Man Was the Fruit of a Separate Act of Creation." Charles Darwin.
On the birthday of the greatest naturalist Charles Darwin, I publish several inaccuracies, misconceptions and false information about himself, which I encountered on the Internet and in some television programs.
Perhaps this publication will help to shed light or to remember who the great British naturalist was and who he was not.
1. Charles Darwin author of the statement: "Man Came from the Monkey." Darwin made no such claims, and you will not find such claims in his works.
This myth about Darwin, most likely, was born in a clerical environment in which his activities, to put it mildly, did not evoke sympathy. Charles was only trying to substantiate the idea that modern apes and humans had a common ancestor, although Darwin was not the first to claim that apes and humans are related.
2. Darwin was the first to say that man and apes have a common ancestor. This is not so, because the first to put forward this idea was Buffon, a French naturalist, in his Natural History, at the end of the 18th century. And Karl Linnaeus in the same century placed man in the order of primates in his taxonomy (where man, as a species, quite rightly remains to the present.
Promotional video:
Later, Darwin, on the basis of comparative anatomical and embryological data, substantiated the statement about the common origin of man and modern apes from the ancient original ancestor. In the XX century, this theory was also reliably confirmed by the data of molecular biology and numerous paleontological finds.
3. Darwin was the author of the first theory of evolution. It depends on what is considered a theory … it is believed that the author of the first more or less internally consistent theory of evolution, namely the concept of how and by what means this process occurs, was Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829, however, the basic provisions of his theory (inheritance acquired signs and the inherent in all living things "Striving for Perfection") were not further confirmed, at least in the form in which Lamarck expressed them.”, And introduced into the theory of evolution a different creative force - natural selection, which remains, perhaps, the main engine of evolution in biology to this day.
4. Charles Darwin at the end of his life "Renounced His Theory." This story is not confirmed by any facts. The story of "Darwin's Denial" and that on his deathbed he allegedly believed in God, first appeared many years after the death of the scientist, in 1915. This story was published in the American Baptist edition by preacher Elizabeth Hope, who, incidentally, had never met Darwin. Where did she get such information? Apparently as a revelation came from above …. However, neither in Darwin's autobiography, written by him shortly before his death, nor in the memoirs of his loved ones, there are any hints that the great naturalist at the end of his life experienced any doubts about his views.
5. Darwin was a believer. Every now and then, in the statements of apparently insufficiently informed individuals, such statements emerge. However, such delusions fall not only about Darwin, but also about Einstein, Pavlov.
Here is an interesting quote on this score from a certain priest Alexander Shumsky:
“Darwin himself considered his theory of evolution just a hypothesis. He was a believer and never stopped repeating that the evolutionary chain originates from the throne of God. He unequivocally recognized God as the creator of the world, of all living things … he was a deeply religious person, and he himself would have been horrified by what his theory had turned into. I have no doubt about that."
And you should have doubted, Father Alexander. Only if you read his autobiography, you would find out that for some time Darwin believed in God and was going to become a priest, but over time this Faith passed like a cold on the lip, although not so quickly. Darwin became rather an agnostic.
Here are a couple of quotes from Darwin himself that dispel the myth of his deep faith:
“There is nothing more remarkable than the spread of religious disbelief, or rationalism, throughout the second half of my life. "(Charles Darwin memories of the development of my mind and character. Autobiography." During the voyage on the "Beagle" I was completely orthodox; I remember how some officers (although they themselves were orthodox people) laughed heartily at me when On some moral issue I referred to the Bible as an immutable authority. I think they were amused by the novelty of my argumentation. However, during this period, that is, from October 1836 to January 1839, I gradually came to the realization that the old testament with its obviously false history of the world, with its tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign of the covenant, etc., etc., and with its attribution of the feelings of a vengeful tyrant to the god, is no more trustworthy,than the sacred books of the Hindus or the beliefs of some savage. At that time, one question arose in my mind every now and then, from which I could not get rid of: if God wanted to send down a revelation to the Hindus now, then would he really allow it to be connected with faith in Vishnu, Siwa, etc., how is Christianity related to belief in the Old Testament? It seemed to me absolutely incredible. "(Ibid.).
6. Darwin lost his faith in God after the death of his daughter.
There is no direct documentary evidence of this claim. Neither Darwin himself nor his contemporaries wrote about this. This hypothesis was formulated by biographer James Moore. However, Darwin describes his own loss of faith in his autobiography, and cites many other reasons that have nothing to do with the death of Annie, his daughter.
7 Darwin falsified his theory and it was created under the auspices of secret Masonic societies. Adherents of this point of view often refer to the fact that Charles Darwin's father and grandfather were Masons. For fans of dubious conspiracy theories, Masonic societies are such secret organizations that almost worship the devil himself and are, again in the opinion of these conspiracy theorists, the main evil for humanity.
Still, the sources of information are not clear, either that Darwin's relatives had any secret interest in the scientist's work, or that he himself was somehow connected with secret societies. Only in the event that Darwin's theory had been falsified by him, this was quickly revealed. There would be no Wallace, who, independently of Darwin, came to the same conclusions about the role of natural selection in evolution. There would be no further confirmation of the theory of evolution. Although it may be that the Masons had a hand in this, it is not clear why, in this case, Darwin was so slow to publish his work (about 20 years. Probably he was waiting for an order to publish from the Reptilians … oh, that is, from secret societies. In fact, myths and questionable information around There is more Darwin. Therefore, when you find some unconfirmed information, not only about Darwin,but for any other great person, it is important to doubt the reliability of the information and ask the question: what source is behind this?
