The Darwinian Revolution

by Frederick Gregory

University of Florida 2-book set.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, History, Audiobook, Evolution, Philosophy

13 pages, Audible Audio

Published July 8, 2013

Reviews

[Elwin Kline · Rating 2 out of 5]

"It was okay." - 2 out of 5 star rating.

Not one of my favorite Great Courses.

The most interesting component of this was the information/focus fire on fossils... +1 star for that. Otherwise, everything else was pretty much status quo and lacking depth when it comes to Darwinism.

I honestly wouldn't recommend this.

[Christian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darwin's (R)evolution in Context

AT A GLANCE:
How did the idea of evolution by natural selection spring up and take root? Inquire within.

CONTENT:
Starting before Darwin, voices like Laplace and Lamarck set the stage as precursors to evolution by natural selection. Darwin's life and circumstances are then assessed before moving on to the development of his theory. The initial objections and debates are covered in great detail. We are treated along the way to some unexpected corrections against revisionist history; for example, Darwin accepted forces outside of natural selection as minor contributors to evolution. The Scopes trial is declared to be less significant than its mythology and not a turning point in public discourse. The religious authorities of the time (and ever since) have had varied responses, which are studied here with respect and nuance. He ends by musing about worldviews and how logical thinking can have different starting positions, and briefly touches on widespread assumptions within the scientific community.

NARRATOR:
The professor's candid, assured tone and rehearsed asides win the day here. Best played at 1x - 1.5x speed.

OVERALL:
Professor Gregory is almost uniquely qualified to handle these lectures and provides more than enough info to place Darwin within his historical context.

[Mack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable review of Darwin's natural selection, with considerations of Darwin's scientific forebears and of developments that came after, and with serious consideration of not only scientific debates within the scientific community but also debates ranging across society.

[Feng Ouyang · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Darwinian Revolution by Frederick Gregory
This is a set of lectures given by Prof. Gregory, published by “The Great Courses.” It reviews the work of Darwin and its impact from philosophical and historical perspectives.
The first part of the lecture introduces the work by Darwin. Before Darwin, the idea evolution has existed for decades, if not longer. It was widely discussed in the intellectual circle in Europe. The main contribution of Darwin was pointing out the mechanism of evolution: the natural selection of spontaneous changes in the species. This discovery was revolutionary because it changed our world view. It was long held that the world was created for a purpose and evolved towards a direction determined by a super-being, namely God. The theory of evolution before Darwin did not run contrary to such view. Instead of creating the world in one shot, God may as well let the world evolve towards his design. However, Darwin pointed out that evolution was driven by natural selection, which does not have any underlying design or purpose. Thus, we do not need the design and guidance from a supernatural being.
The second part talks about what happened after Darwin in science. Although works from Darwin took the scientific community by storm, it was not believed by the mainstream for a long time. His main idea was that natural selection works with small changes in species, which accumulates into significant differences between, say, human and fish. However, much scientific evidence since then pointed to big changes as the cause of evolution. Later on, the discovery of genes and DNA mutations showed that Darwin was correct after all. So Darwinian evolution theory became mainstream only after the emergence of molecular biology.
The third part of the book talks about some related social movements. One is social Darwinism, in particular, eugenics. It uses “natural selection” as a moral ground for the policies of racial discrimination or even genocide. The other movement is intelligent design (ID), which promotes an alternative theory to Darwinism and preserves the space of a super-nature designer.
The book provides an interesting angle to the evolution theory and offers a concise and comprehensive historical recount since Darwin to today. However, I find it unsatisfactory for two reasons.
One reason is scientific treatment. Although it is not a biology textbook, I still hope to see more discussions on science. Because the work of Darwin also has a significant impact on scientific methodology. I believe such discussion is essential in discussing the role of Darwinism in human intellectual history. In particular, I feel that two critical points are missing.
One is the scientific evidence that Darwin used to support his theory. Darwin’s work was very different from other scientific fields in his time (such as physics and chemistry), because he used observation only, without controlled experiments. It is amazing to me that such a revolutionary theory can be constructed based on observation alone. I would like to draw lessons on scientific research methodology from Darwin’s work.
The other issue is also on scientific methodology: the issue of falsifiability. What are the possible observations or experiments that can prove Darwin wrong? Today, the “folk evolutionary theories” are not falsifiable. If an animal has a feature (e.g., no body hair), it must have a survival advantage (e.g., heat dissipation). There is no proof that such advantage is the reason that this feature exists. We can never prove such attribution to be wrong because a counterexample to such a statement is impossible. However, at Darwin’s time, his theory must stand on its own, instead relying on the well-accepted beliefs. Therefore, it is crucial to examine the falsifiability of Darwin’s original work.
My other dissatisfaction is the treatment of eugenics and intelligent design. The author treats them as social phenomena and describes their positions and histories. However, these two movements claim they are based on science. Therefore, it is essential to examine their validity as science. Regardless of their moral implications, are they well-supported by scientific evidence? This is an important, although perhaps controversial, discussion that I feel the course deserves.
Overall, this is a concise and clear course on Darwinism. However, more readings are needed to form a more complete picture of the theory of evolution.

[Chris Esposo · Rating 3 out of 5]

An insightful tour on history of the theory of evolution, from pre-Darwinian ideas/theories, Darwin and his contemporaries, like Lamark, and a little bit on how the notion of selection and evolution influences modern biological sciences like genetics and molecular biology. To be clear, this is not a book focused primarily on the science, rather, it’s focused mostly on how the science, and the history of thought has impacted Western society.

From this standpoint, the “course”/book does a good job. Roughly a ⅓ of the content focuses on the contemporary debates of Darwin’s era, with a good chunk dedicated to pre-Darwinian evolution, which appropriately enough was championed by Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, an enlightenment thinker/dilettante. The first 6 chapters or so focuses on how the theory of evolution “evolved” and the philosophic struggles proponents of the idea had with the prevailing “science” of the time, which still had not properly cleaved itself of biblically derived ‘creationism’. Though, interestingly enough, many post-enlightenment Christian clergy, and the apologetics of the era did not reject the notion of evolution. What they rejected was the abstract notion of “selection” which sought to replace the “guided evolution” they imagined their God had directed onto the various living creatures on Earth.

Each lecture, the professor outlines the subject, say Lamarkian evolution, oftentimes summarizing the history of the idea, the nature of the idea, and where it falls in contention either with Darwinian selection/evolution, the prevailing ideas of society at that time, or both. Then there will often be a point-counter point on the nuance of the debate. Given how slippery selection is as a concept, this repeat-rinse cycle across several subjects helped me think through some of the conceptual lasagna, and I’m sure it will help others who may be approaching this topic totally fresh as well.

It is this later “general reader” audience that this book will probably appeal to the most. Although, as mentioned, history of science students/enthusiasts will probably find it useful too. It will likely be too elementary for academics in that field. If there was one major criticism I would levy against this work, it was that it focused too much on the schism between proponents of Darwinian ideas and established Western Christianity. Although interesting, this struggle is ultimately rhetorical, and mostly devoid of substance. There is some value to understanding it as a sociological phenomena, but beyond that, I would have much preferred more chapters/lectures dedicated to how selection informed the creation of modern biology.

Overall, it’s not a bad installment of the series, because of it’s niche subject, it will likely offer a new take on the subject matter that is not just a hollowed out textbook treatment on the subject, and could probably enrich students in biology that would like to understand the history of these ideas, and how science has historically impacted the greater society (beyond it’s practical discoveries). Conditional recommend

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good look at the history of evolution beginning with the era of Charles Darwin, and continuing on to today, including a look at the ongoing debates between evolutionists and creationists. Ultimately, though, it still didn't explain how evolution actually works! I get natural selection, I really do. No one's arguing against natural selection - characteristics that provide a better chance of survival will persist in a species. But that doesn't explain how those characteristics got there in the first place! Natural selection deletes existing information. What process 'writes' the information in the first place? Mutation? He briefly touches on that in the course, but do people really think that the benefits of random mutations can outrun the cumulative harm of them? In Darwin's day there was no good theory for the rise of new information (they didn't know about DNA then anyway). So on what basis could Darwin himself have said "evolution is a good theory"? Even into the 1920s and beyond there was no consensus on new information, just existing information getting deleted. So why were they so dogmatic about demanding evolution be taught? Sounds cultish to me...

[Peter Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

The discoveries of science over the last couple of hundred years have removed humans from the center of the universe and placed us on a planet revolving around a minor star in one of myriad other galaxies. We have also become less and less unique. The more we learn about other life forms the less their is to distinguish us from them. Darwin was an important figure in the toppling of humans from their position as the highest manifestation of life on earth. This process of destabilization of humans has been bitterly fought from the very beginning by both religious and secular forces. It continues today. The author of this lecture series never comes out and says that intelligent design is not scientific. In light of the evidence it seems difficult to see the universe as having some overall purpose or goal. I believe there are plenty of things that are not explainable by science, but I still believe that the scientific method is valid for many aspects of reality.

[Benjamin Uke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Darwinian revolution is generally taken to be one of the key events in the history of Western science.

Traditionally, scientific thought that took place in the years following the publication of Darwin’s findings. Evolutionary concepts gradually took hold in the field of biology, challenging traditional concept on the origin of life, the very nature of life itself, and humanity’s place within nature on Earth, and the controversy of how it impacts religion.

Frederick Gregory is a scientific philosophy the author with a seminary degree, in a series of 24 lectures he discusses the nuance of the topic.

Ultimately he concludes that evolution explains HOW while religion explains Why. Intelligent design is not scientific, because proper scientific theory can be disproved.

[Karlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Historical and religious perspectives.

[April Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough historical review of evolution and Darwin's impact on society.

[Thomas]

Darwin's impact on the world, scientific thought, and man's view of that world, as well as where and how man fits into that world, cannot be overstated. This course was an excellent overview of the world before, during, and after 'The origin of Species'