The Transformist Illusion

by Douglas Dewar

The Transformist Illusion, first published in 1957 and republished by Sophia Perennis et Universalis, is a fascinating debunking of the Darwinian account of evolution from the perspective of a noted creationist. In recent times, the debate between evolutionists and creationists (as well as those who advocate 'Intelligent Design') has become particularly pronounced and politicized. Public denial of evolution often leads to the permanent branding of noted scientists. However, the proponents of one school of thought, the traditionalists, followers of thinkers such as René Guénon and Ananda Coomaraswamy, have long maintained that evolution conflicts with traditional metaphysics and involves an acceptance of the fallacy of progress. In particular, thinkers such as Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, Marco Pallis, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Lord Northbourne, Huston Smith, and Wolfgang Smith have argued against evolution and have often cited this work of Dewar to support their case. Douglas Dewar (1875 - 1957) was a British biologist and ornithologist. He studied under Sedgewick at Cambridge. In his youth he believed in the theory of evolution; however, later he came to doubt this theory. He was a founder of the Evolution Protest Movement in London in 1932. He also debated leading evolutionists including H. S. Shelton, J. B. S. Haldane, and Joseph McCabe. However, as a scientist opposing the Darwinian account, he was relegated to the sidelines and thus this book (which assembles a vast amount of palaeontological and biological evidence against the theory of evolution) had to be published in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and has been relegated to obscurity. Nevertheless, the points made in this book are important and should not be naively rejected out of hand.

Genres: Science

312 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Douglas Dewar (1875–1957) was a barrister, British civil servant in India, and ornithologist who wrote several books about Indian birds. He wrote widely in newspapers such as The Madras Mail, Pioneer, Times of India and periodicals such as the Civil and Military Gazette and Bird Notes