Posted on 07/09/2003 12:08:32 PM PDT by PatrickHenry
Yup. Immediate screams of "I resent that" from the duo you'd expect.
Out for the night. I'll check out the spray-paint job in the morning. Still looking for a presentation of what kind of proposed alternate garbage science is supposed to go into those Texas textbooks.
HA!
Never Say Never. Just not with you, anymore.
"Often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself whether I may not have devoted my life to a phantasy."
Others might be interested in further information, and indeed you might also, as I suspect you (or whoever created the graphic) cribbed the quote second-hand. There is also a minor error. The quote should commence either "...often" or "[O]ften," since the sentence does not begin there in the original.
The source is a letter of November 23, 1859, from Charles Darwin to Charles Lyell. The context was the imminent publication of Darwin's Origin. Darwin was thanking and congradulating Lyell for reversing himself (to a significant degree at any rate) on the subject of evolution. Lyell had for many years disseminated some of the definitive arguments against the "transformation hypothesis" in it's pre-darwinian forms, and had apparently shown Darwin some revisions he intended in new editions of a couple of his works.
Other evidence indicates that Darwin was indeed very nervous about the publication of his book. This was not because he was in doubt about his theory, but because he disliked public controversy and feared vilification (e.g. his reference "the virulence of bigotry [being] expended on the first offender...").
In context Darwin's "cold shudder" comment does not indicate serious or persistent doubt, and most certainly not present doubt, as we can tell from the beginning of the sentence (missing in your version) and the next sentence. Darwin was basically saying that his ability to persuade knowledgable and skeptical persons like Hooker and Lyell indicated that he could not be wholly wrong. The "cold shudder," if not an entirely rhetorical device, most likely refers to doubts that Darwin experienced during the years he was working on his theory in private, without feedback on his ideas from other experts.
OTOH Darwin certainly was capable of prodigious self-doubt. Indeed his ability to identify, and then carefully think through, the possible objections to his theory can only be described as amazing. Darwin was certainly a partisan of his own theory, as is of course usually the case, but most scientists become sufficiently enamored of their theories that they need the help of skeptical colleagues in identifying the best counter-arguments that need answering. In contrast there was not a single major argument brought forward against Darwin's theory that he had not already recognized and considered before The Origin was published. (Darwin did add a section on "Objections to the Theory" in later additions of his book, but these were only variations of points he had already anticipated.)
Anyhow, following is the full paragraph containing your quote. The full letter can be found in the link below. Your quote is bolded, and additional relevant context is highlighted in red:
Project Gutenberg's Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Volume 2
http://ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext00/2llcd10.txt
My dear Lyell,You seemed to have worked admirably on the species question; there could not have been a better plan than reading up on the opposite side. I rejoice profoundly that you intend admitting the doctrine of modification in your new edition (It appears from Sir Charles Lyell's published letters that he intended to admit the doctrine of evolution in a new edition of the 'Manual,' but this was not published till 1865. He was, however, at work on the 'Antiquity of Man' in 1860, and had already determined to discuss the 'Origin' at the end of the book.); nothing, I am convinced, could be more important for its success. I honour you most sincerely. To have maintained in the position of a master, one side of a question for thirty years, and then deliberately give it up, is a fact to which I much doubt whether the records of science offer a parallel. For myself, also, I rejoice profoundly; for, thinking of so many cases of men pursuing an illusion for years, often and often a cold shudder has run through me, and I have asked myself whether I may not have devoted my life to a phantasy. Now I look at it as morally impossible that investigators of truth, like you and Hooker, can be wholly wrong, and therefore I rest in peace. Thank you for criticisms, which, if there be a second edition, I will attend to. I have been thinking that if I am much execrated as an atheist, etc., whether the admission of the doctrine of natural selection could injure your works; but I hope and think not, for as far as I can remember, the virulence of bigotry is expended on the first offender, and those who adopt his views are only pitied as deluded, by the wise and cheerful bigots.
"Gentlemen may cry, peace, peace-but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of the conscience; and it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.
"The rising greatness of our country...is greatly tarnished by the general prevalence of deism, which, with me, is but another name for vice and depravity....Amongst other strange things said of me, I hear it is said by the deists that I am one of the number; and, indeed, that some good people think I am no Christian. This thought gives me much more pain than the appellation of Tory; because I think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics; and I find much cause to reproach myself that I have lived so long, and have given no decided and public proofs of my being a Christian. But, indeed, my dear child, this is a character which I prize far above all this world has, or can boast."
The real Patrick Henry would be appalled to have his name associated with you.
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