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Literature & Society
Darwin’s Origin of species:
context and impact
09 2014
Prof.dr. Ben Peperkamp
[Moderne Letterkunde VU]
London, 1859
London, 1859
- Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species
by Means of Natural Selection, or the
Preservation of Favoured Races in the
Struggle for Life
- Published November 24th, 1859
- Reprints – see Darwin online
- A work of science
- The founding text of evolutionary biology
London, 1859 & afterwards
• High impact in and outside the academic
domain
• Canonical
• http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/dar
win/originspecies.pdf
Question?
• WHY this “fascination” for (evolutionary)
science in the public space, this vivid
reception of a single book, this “impact” on
19/20th century society and thinking?
• Answers: Cultural History, History of
Science…
• Reception-studies
Our Perspectives
- [a] Popular Science
- [b] Theology
- [c] Scientific Practices
[a] Popular Science
• “It was neither in the 18th century nor in
the present that popular science reached
its heyday, but in the 19th century.
• This is due not so much to the amount of
popular literature produced and read in
that century, but to the significance of
popularization for the self-image of the
period.”
Popular Science & Prestige
• “The natural sciences were considered to
be the motive force of progress in all areas
of social life; whoever wanted to be ‘up
with the times’ had to be familiar with their
success and method of thought.”
• Bayertz, Kurt: In: Expository science:
forms and functions of popularisation.
Popular Science
- Scientific books for a general public,
introducing Geology & Paleontology,
Cosmology…
- Opening of Natural Musea – “Jurrasic Parc
in the 19th Century”, offering new
experiences
- Vgl. Science in the Marketplace
19th century Mammoth on Display
Zeuglodon – British Museum
Fighting Sauriers, in a German book
Comparison - 1
Comparison – 2
New (1): ‘Deep Time’
• The creation is
much older than
the scripture
suggests; Usher:
‘Genesis’ 4004 BC.
• Proof: Erosion,
South of England
Crisis (2): Variability
• Nature is not
‘stable’, but
changing
• Proof: fossiles
[Source]
•
W.F.A. ZIMMERMANN: Die
Wunder der Urwelt: eine populäre
Darstellung der Geschichte der
Schöpfung und des Urzustandes
unseres Weltkörpers so wie der
verschiedenen
Entwicklungsperioden seiner
Oberfläche, seiner Vegetation und
seiner Bewohner bis auf die
Jetztzeit: nach den Resultaten der
Forschung und Wissenschaft. 18.
Auflage mit 279 in den Text
eingedruckten Abbildungen und
einem lithographirten Titelbild.
Gustav Hempel: Berlin 1861.
Popular interest: Utrecht, 1866 example
- Oral presentations of a scientific poem,
called The Creation, written by the Dutch
vicar, J.J.L. ten Kate
- Literature, Science & Theology combined
– and “communicated” in a public [not
academic] setting
- Literary dissemination of knowledge!
De Schepping of J.J.L. ten Kate
(Utrecht: Kemink & Zoon 18661)
Cover [with prehistoric forest] en portrait of the author
Hugh Miller: Sermons of Stone
Manuscript of The Creation
Detail: Utrecht, I - III



Utrecht: newspaper & location
.
31 [januari 1865] - Den Haag

26 [januari 1865] […] Zutphen
31 [januari 1865] […] ’ s Hage, voor H.M. de Koningin
1 februari [1865] […] Utrecht
The Hague: Queen Sophia
[Diligentia, Den Haag]
[b] Culture & Theology
- Bible (Old & New Testament): very
fundaments of thought…
- Big problem: “Deep time” and the notion of
variability both contradict the Scripture!
- Cf. Genesis 1th Chapter [creation in six
days, no changes made afterwards]
Genesis & Scripture
• Ngram 1: Genesis / English / 1800-2000
• http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/GenesisChapter-1/
Protest in Athenaeum, Stemmen
• [Statement] WE, the
undersigned Students of the
Natural Sciences desire to
express our sincere regret, that
researches into scientific truth
are perverted […] for casting
doubt upon the Truth and
Authenticity of the Holy
Scriptures. We conceive that it
is impossible for the Word of
God, as written in the book of
nature, and God’s Word written
in Holy Scripture, to
contradict one another,
however much they may
appear to differ.
• Citaat 5b: In het tijdschrift ‘The
Athenaeum’ is voor eenigen
tijd eene verklaring openbaar
gemaakt van ongeveer twee
honderd natuurkundigen,
waarin deze hunne innige
droefheid te kennen geven
over de aanvallen door
sommigen op naam der
natuurkennis tegen de
geloofwaardigheid des Bijbels
gerigt, waarvoor volgens hen
geen grond aanwezig is.
Background: Fysico-Theological
Tradition
• Vivid (Protestant/Anglican)
intellectual tradition: Book of
Nature as second Revelation
of Gods plan
• Crucial: correspondence
between nature and text
• Cf. Jorink: Het Boeck der
Natuere. Nederlandse
wetenschappers en de
wonderen van Gods schepping
1575-1715. Leiden 2006
[Diss.].
• Natural Theology
• See Wikipedia
[c] Scientific Practices
- Miller & Ten Kate (and many others): were
seeking for correspondence between (the
history of) nature and the Scriptures –
traditional
- The Bridgewater Treatises On the Power
Wisdom and Goodness of God As
Manifested in the Creation
- Problem -> solution / incoherence ->
coherence
Scientific Practices
Darwin: innovative
He kept the contradictions in tact, moreover:
proofing that (interpretations of) the
Scriptures are wrong as far as the
development of the species are concerned
Summary
• Darwin's theory of evolution is based on
key facts and the inferences drawn from
them (vgl. Wikipedia)
• Every species is fertile enough that if all
offspring survived to reproduce the
population would grow (fact).
• Despite periodic fluctuations, populations
remain roughly the same size (fact).
Summary
• Resources such as food are limited and
are relatively stable over time (fact).
• A struggle for survival ensues (inference).
• Individuals in a population vary
significantly from one another (fact).
• Much of this variation is inheritable (fact).
Summary
• Individuals less suited to the environment
are less likely to survive and less likely to
reproduce; individuals more suited to the
environment are more likely to survive and
more likely to reproduce and leave their
inheritable traits to future generations,
which produces the process of natural
selection (inference).
Summary
• This slowly effected process results in
populations changing to adapt to their
environments, and ultimately, these
variations accumulate over time to form
new species (inference).
Research, 1859 - manuscript
Research, 1859 - print
• The Origin of
species illustration demonstrating how
the degree of
similarities between a
number of varieties
and species is
explained by descent
from common
ancestors.
Research, 2006 – Computerreconstruction
• http://systemsbiology.
biowebdb.org/artigos_
curso_inverno_2010/
Ciccarelli_2006_Scie
nce_felipe.pdf
Implications
•
•
•
•
Materialistic & Mechanic Vision
No divine Creator
No correspondence Nature / Scriptures
Loss of Authority
• Yet no explicit statement about men
The Descent of Men, 1872
• The final chapter of
that book, Chapter
XXI, contains
Darwin’s famous (and
infamous) statement:
“We thus learn that
man is descended
from a hairy, tailed
quadruped, probably
arboreal in its habits,
and an inhabitant of
the Old World.”
Darwin as a Ape, 1862
The Society
• In this cartoon, circa
1871, the gorilla is
saying: "That man wants
to claim my pedigree. He
says he is one of my
descendants." Mr Bergh
(the founder of the
Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals)
replies: "Now, Mr Darwin,
how could you insult him
so?"
Reception
• Initial shock
• Adaptation & transformation: social darwinism,
economic darwinism
• Nazism: violence
Discussion
• Literary qualities of
Origin?
• Language of fact and
description
• Argumentative