Stephen E. Jones

Creation/Evolution Quotes: History #1: Darwin

[Quotes] [History, #2, #3, #4, #5]

The page titled "Darwin's dishonesty" is now at History #2

History #1: Darwin

1. Darwin's childhood
• Darwin invented bogus evolutionary stories in childhood
2. Darwin's success
• "Darwin's success ... is to be found in his equivocation"
• Darwin was "able to put his ideas across not so much because of his scientific integrity, but because of his opportunism, his equivocatio
3. Darwin's attack on creation
• Darwin erected a straw man caricature of creation to attack
• "Often the Creationist position seems merely a straw man-set up only to be knocked down"

History #1: Darwin

1. Darwin's childhood
• Darwin invented bogus evolutionary stories in childhood

"His powers of imagination were already well developed, and in addition to childish fibs, he invented a bogus story that he was able to produce variations in crocuses, polyanthuses, and primroses at will, by watering them with coloured liquids, which was of course, as he admitted, 'a monstrous fable,' but also shows that the was not unaware of variation, even at that age." (de Beer G., "Charles Darwin: Evolution by Natural Selection," Nelson: London, 1963, p.24). [top]

2. Darwin's success
• Darwin's success ... is to be found in his equivocation"

"Another, and equally important, explanation for Darwin's success as the propounder of evolution is to be found in his equivocation on the central issue of selection versus direction. The issue had long been recognized as cardinal in any theory. Those who had taken either side unequivocally, whether that of Lamarck or of his opponents, had failed, though their failure was political. But Darwin confused the alternatives on all possible occasions. The confusion helped greatly in dealing with untrained opponents who did not notice the blurring of the issue. Darwin's success makes his choice in this dilemma seem deliberate and disingenuous. But it was no doubt unconscious, like most of his more important reasonings." (Darlington C.D., "The Origin of Darwinism," Scientific American, Vol. 201, May 1959, p64). [top]

• Darwin was "able to put his ideas across not so much because of his scientific integrity, but because of his opportunism, his equivocation"

"In short, it is clear that Darwin's success was due to several common vices as well as to several uncommon virtues. His gifts as an observer in all fields concerned with the needs of a theory of evolution were extraordinary. His industry and patience in collecting and editing his own observations as well as other people's were hardly less remarkable. On the other hand, his ideas were not, as he imagined, unusually original. He was able to put his ideas across not so much because of his scientific integrity, but because of his opportunism, his equivocation and his lack of historical sense. Though his admirers will not like to believe it, he accomplished his revolution by personal weakness and strategic talent more than by scientific virtue." (Darlington C.D., "The Origin of Darwinism," Scientific American, Vol. 201, May 1959, p66). [top]

3. Darwin's attack on creation
• Darwin erected a straw man caricature of creation to attack
• "Often the Creationist position seems merely a straw man-set up only to be knocked down"

"Yet even here, where Darwin's arguments are strongest, nagging questions remain. For example, a reader of the Origin might be justified in wondering what Creationist view Darwin is referring to. Perhaps this is a problem more for the present-day reader. Darwin's contemporaries may have known exactly what he meant, though I doubt it. Often the Creationist position seems merely a straw man-set up only to be knocked down. The constraints on space in the Origin, which led Darwin to abandon his original intention of arguing on both sides of the mutability issue, add to this feeling. The result is that the Creationist position is never clearly defined in the Origin." (Gale B.G., "Evolution Without Evidence: Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species," University of New Mexico Press: Albuquerque NM, 1982, p.139). [top]

* Authors with an asterisk against their name are believed not to be evolutionists.