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God v Science
Science and Darwinism
Religion and The Creation
First day: God creates light. (The source of light is not
mentioned; it is described by some as a "primordial light.")
The light is divided from the darkness, and "day" and "night"
are named.
Second day: God creates a firmament and divides the
waters above it from the waters below. The firmament is
named "heaven."
Third day: God gathers the waters together, and dry land
appears. "Earth" and "sea" are named. Then God brings
forth grass, herbs and fruit-bearing trees on the Earth.
Fourth day: God creates lights in the firmament of Heaven,
to separate light from darkness and to mark days, seasons
and years. Two great lights are made (most likely the Sun
and Moon; but not named), and the stars.
Fifth day: God creates birds and sea creatures; they are
commanded to be fruitful and multiply.
Sixth day: God creates wild beasts, livestock and reptiles
upon the Earth. He then creates Man and Woman in His
"image" and "likeness." They are told to "be fruitful, and
multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it." Humans and
animals are given plants to eat. The totality of creation is
described by God as "very good."
Seventh day: God, having completed his work of creation,
rests from His work. He blesses and sanctifies the seventh
day.
By 1859, the morphological similarity of humans to certain great apes
had been discussed and argued for some time, but the idea of the
biological evolution of species in general was not legitimized until
Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in November of that
year. Darwin's first book on evolution did not address the specific
question of human evolution: "Light will be thrown on the origin of man
and his history," was all Darwin wrote on the subject. Nevertheless, the
implications of evolutionary theory were clear to contemporary readers.
Debates between Thomas Huxley and Richard Owen focused on human
evolution. Huxley convincingly illustrated many of the similarities and
differences between humans and apes in his 1863 book Evidence as to
Man's Place in Nature. By the time Darwin published his own book on
the subject, The Descent of Man, it was already a well-known
interpretation of his theory, and the interpretation which made the
theory highly controversial. Even many of Darwin's original supporters
(such as Alfred Russell Wallace and Charles Lyell) balked at the idea that
human beings could have evolved their impressive mental capacities and
moral sensibilities through natural selection.
Since the time of Carolus Linnaeus, scientists have considered the great
apes to be the closest relatives of human beings, based on
morphological similarity. In the 19th century, they speculated that the
closest living relatives of humans are chimpanzees and gorillas. Based on
the natural range of these creatures, they surmised that humans share a
common ancestor with other African apes and that fossils of these
ancestors would ultimately be found in Africa.
Advancing Science in Literature
1726
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Predating Darwinism Swift sent out a warning to the scientists of the Royal Society.
One chapter of Gulliver’s Travels describes a land where an Academy of Professors
spend their time inventing meaningless machines and theories.
1818
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Frankenstein is a novel warning against the "over-reaching" of modern man and the
Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel's subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. The
novel questions many debates that can be linked to today's culture. The evolution of
man and the extent to which man collects knowledge can ultimately backfire and fail
to produce any good outcomes.
1859
1886
On the origins of Species – Charles Darwin
The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde – Robert Louis Stevenson
Stevenson picks up on the duality of man; the idea that all men have both good and
evil personas, the stronger being the more dominant. His evil character (Hyde) dwells
in darkness and shows traits of Darwin’s primate theory and a return to a state of
nature explored in Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes in 1651.
Duality in Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
One branch of philosophy insists that human beings are ‘dual
creatures’. By this is meant the animalistic side of a human being, being
separate from man’s unique ability of rational thinking. This duality in
humans is the not quite so obvious ‘lower level’ of meaning in Robert
Louis Stevenson’s allegory The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The much more obvious, ‘higher level’ of meaning is that of a horror
mystery. Stevenson puts across this duality in every human mainly
through Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde. The story also demonstrates
how an innocent curiosity about our darker side of our nature can get
out of hand. In all of us there is a seed of evil.