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Defining Darwin: Essays on the History and Philosophy of Evolutionary Biology
Michael Ruse is one of the foremost Charles Darwin scholars of our time. For forty years he has written extensively on Darwin, the scientific revolution that his work precipitated, and the nature and implications of evolutionary thinking for today. Now, in the year marking the two hundredth anniversary of Darwin's birth and the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of his masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, Ruse reevaluates the legacy of Darwin in this collection of new and recent essays.Beginning with pre-Darwinian concepts of organic origins proposed by the great German philosopher Immanuel Kant, Ruse shows the challenges that Darwin's radically different idea faced. He then discusses natural selection as a powerful metaphor; Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of the theory of evolution; Herbert Spencer's contribution to evolutionary biology; the synthesis of Mendelian genetics and natural selection; the different views of Julian Huxley and George Gaylord Simpson on evolutionary ethics; and the influence of Darwin's ideas on literature. In the final section, Ruse brings the discussion up to date with a consideration of "evolutionary development" (dubbed "evo devo") as a new evolutionary paradigm and the effects of Darwin on religion, especially the debate surrounding Intelligent Design theory.Ruse offers a fresh perspective on topics old and new, challenging the reader to think again about the nature and consequences of what has been described as the biggest idea ever conceived.
271 pages, Hardcover
First published July 28, 2009
43 people want to read
About the author
Michael Ruse
130 books100 followersMichael Escott Ruse was a British-born Canadian philosopher of science who specialised in the philosophy of biology and worked on the relationship between science and religion, the creation–evolution controversy, and the demarcation problem within science. Ruse began his career teaching at The University of Guelph and spent many years at Florida State University.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 7, 2022
“Perhaps there should be a First Rule of Science Journalism: Interview at least one person other than Michael Ruse.” ~Richard Dawkins
The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory
There is a line drawn within the vast coalition of scientific rationalists. On one side are the hardliners, the so-called “new atheists” such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett—these are the ones who give little or no quarter to the supernatural and make no treaties with the theological. On the other side of the line sits Michael Ruse. Like Dawkins and Dennett, Ruse is a religious nonbeliever but he shies away from monikers like ‘atheist’ and ‘agnostic,’ preferring instead to be called a ‘skeptic.’
Michael Ruse is decidedly more lenient on faith than some of his contemporaries but, for a sitting professor at a southern U.S. university, his take on the fundamentalist mindset is surprisingly naive:
“How far can one go with Darwin if one is a practicing, believing Christian? If one believes that Jesus was God incarnate, who died on the cross for our sins, and makes possible our eternal salvation, can one accept descent with modification? My answer today is [yes]… It is many years now since either scientists or the layman felt constrained by literal readings of Genesis. No one believes in the date set by Archbishop Ussher, that the world is but six thousand years old.”
Ruse wants to set a place at the science table for the practicing Christian, but he makes a clear distinction between Cristians who interpret their scripture allegorically and those who interpret it literally. There is no seat at Ruse’s table for biblical literalists:
“Today, the forces of darkness, otherwise known as the biblical literalists—in their most modern incarnation, the Intelligent Design Theorists—stand at our gates, trying to enter and to attack evolutionary thinking and its place in school curricula. Fighting these people is itself a moral crusade.” ~Michael Ruse
There are ten separate essays here, covering everything from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species to the philosophies of Immanuel Kant and the spiritualism of Alfred Russel Wallace. In spite of Ruse’s insistence on religious inclusion and his deference to a non-evangelical “Christian Majority,” he is indeed one of us. His commitment to real science, particularly to evolutionary biology, is abundantly clear. Where Ruse errs is in his gross underestimation of the political clout of America’s religious fundamentalists. They may in fact be a minority but they are a minority who is extremely well funded and highly organized. The author’s disparate treatment of religious sects opens the door for zealots with the capacity to masquerade as moderates. His is a philosophy that is at best irresponsible and, ultimately, very bad science.
The Philosophy of Evolutionary Theory
There is a line drawn within the vast coalition of scientific rationalists. On one side are the hardliners, the so-called “new atheists” such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett—these are the ones who give little or no quarter to the supernatural and make no treaties with the theological. On the other side of the line sits Michael Ruse. Like Dawkins and Dennett, Ruse is a religious nonbeliever but he shies away from monikers like ‘atheist’ and ‘agnostic,’ preferring instead to be called a ‘skeptic.’
Michael Ruse is decidedly more lenient on faith than some of his contemporaries but, for a sitting professor at a southern U.S. university, his take on the fundamentalist mindset is surprisingly naive:
“How far can one go with Darwin if one is a practicing, believing Christian? If one believes that Jesus was God incarnate, who died on the cross for our sins, and makes possible our eternal salvation, can one accept descent with modification? My answer today is [yes]… It is many years now since either scientists or the layman felt constrained by literal readings of Genesis. No one believes in the date set by Archbishop Ussher, that the world is but six thousand years old.”
Ruse wants to set a place at the science table for the practicing Christian, but he makes a clear distinction between Cristians who interpret their scripture allegorically and those who interpret it literally. There is no seat at Ruse’s table for biblical literalists:
“Today, the forces of darkness, otherwise known as the biblical literalists—in their most modern incarnation, the Intelligent Design Theorists—stand at our gates, trying to enter and to attack evolutionary thinking and its place in school curricula. Fighting these people is itself a moral crusade.” ~Michael Ruse
There are ten separate essays here, covering everything from Darwin’s On the Origin of Species to the philosophies of Immanuel Kant and the spiritualism of Alfred Russel Wallace. In spite of Ruse’s insistence on religious inclusion and his deference to a non-evangelical “Christian Majority,” he is indeed one of us. His commitment to real science, particularly to evolutionary biology, is abundantly clear. Where Ruse errs is in his gross underestimation of the political clout of America’s religious fundamentalists. They may in fact be a minority but they are a minority who is extremely well funded and highly organized. The author’s disparate treatment of religious sects opens the door for zealots with the capacity to masquerade as moderates. His is a philosophy that is at best irresponsible and, ultimately, very bad science.
April 4, 2011
A bit tricky to read (mostly because I'm not a philosophy buff), but I'm enjoying it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews