Posted on 02/12/2009 8:06:14 AM PST by gallaxyglue
On the origin of Charles Darwin's radical theory By Laurie Goering February 12, 2009 LONDON — Charles Darwin is widely thought to have developed his natural selection theory of evolution after noting differences among finches in the Galapagos Islands.
But it was variation in another species the young British naturalist observed during his now-famous voyage on the HMS Beagle—man—that actually drove his breakthrough, a new book argues. And the inspiration for that insight may well have been Darwin's fervent anti-slavery views and moral passion to show that men of all races were brothers.
"Everyone says the Galapagos are everything, which is more or less rubbish," said James Moore, a Chicago-raised Darwin biographer and co-author of the new book. "For Darwin, humans are the starting point."
Two hundred years after his birth and 150 years after the publication of his landmark book, "On the Origin of Species," Darwin remains one of the world's most influential scientists, a thinker whose revolutionary ideas—like those of Albert Einstein or Isaac Newton—have largely stood the test of time. But Darwin's ideas simultaneously remain at the center of deep philosophical and religious debate a century and a half after they were published.
"Why did Darwin touch the untouchable" by developing a theory that "was an abomination to a Christian gentleman naturalist who needed career advancement and respect?" The answer is basically that Darwin, raised in a family that considered slavery a sin, believed wholeheartedly in "the brotherhood of the races" and was able to imagine a family tree that united them and the mechanisms that led to their differences, unlike other thinkers of his time.
At the time, many of their contemporaries thought the world's races had taken separate evolutionary paths rather than springing from the same tree.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
No comparison between Darwin and Einstein and/or Newton. There is no “formula” to Darwin’s “THEORY”. In reality, it’s called imagination.
I would think the opposite - that Darwinism would be at the root of any racial supremacy theories.
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