Encyclopedia of Evolution.pdf - Online Reading Center

Darwin’s “One LOng argument”: a summary Of
Origin Of SpecieS
Evolutionary sociologist Ashley Montagu said, “Next to the
Bible, no work has been quite as influential, in virtually every
aspect of human thought, as The Origin of Species.” When it
was published in 1859, it sold out on the first day (see Origin
Of SpecieS [book]). In it, Darwin presented convincing
evidence that evolution had occurred, and an explanation of
how evolution occurs. Countless scientists and science educators
have marveled at the powerful simplicity of Darwin’s
arguments for the fact and the process of evolution. Many
have had the same experience that T. H. Huxley (see Huxley,
Thomas Henry) had upon learning of this theory: How
stupid to not have thought of it before!
Many people have learned about Origin of Species not
from reading it but from reading what others have written
about it. Many of evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould’s
writings have elucidated the development of specific portions
of Darwin’s arguments and thoughts (see Gould, Stephen
Jay). Many histories of scientific thought (most notably evolutionary
biologist Ernst Mayr’s The Growth of Biological
Thought) summarize it (see Mayr, Ernst). Ernst Mayr specifically
explained Darwin’s reasoning in his book One Long
Argument. More recently, geneticist Steve Jones “updated”
Origin of Species in his book Darwin’s Ghost—he used the
same chapter divisions and borrowed a little of Darwin’s
beautiful prose, but it consists almost wholly of new material.
Origin of Species is not only the foundation of modern
evolutionary biology. It is also the foundation of ecology:
Chapter 3 is one of the earliest examples of ecological science.
Darwinian evolution is, in fact, now considered the foundation
of all branches of biology; as geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky
said, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the
light of evolution” (see Dobzhansky, Theodosius).
Because of its length and complexity, most scientists
and science educators have not read Origin of Species in its
entirety. This is exactly parallel to the phenomenon that the
Appendix
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Bible is largely unread by Christian congregations, many
of which would be surprised at its contents. Even though
Darwin wrote this book in the passion of rushing to press,
because of Alfred Russel Wallace’s independent discovery of
natural selection (see Wallace, Alfred Russel), and made
it the “briefest abstract” of his ideas, it is still more than 400
pages in length. Its prose is delightful but thick, and its complex
sentences are more easily accessible to Victorian than to
modern American readers. Darwin assumed that his readers
had immense facility with biological concepts; for example,
he just expected them to know what cirripedes are (they are
barnacles).
The Bible is accompanied by an entire publishing industry
of commentaries, devotionals, and various translations
that attempt to make the original text accessible to everyone
from young people to truck drivers. Origin of Species, however,
exists only in referenced chunks and in complete form.
The appendix of this encyclopedia consists of a summary of
this book, in which the original force of the “one long argument”
can be apparent to the modern reader.
One may be astonished at how much Darwin knew.
Many creationist arguments still in tiresome use today were
already answered in Darwin’s book. Many pieces of evidence
that many students of biology assume to be the product of
20th-century science are already documented in Origin of
Species. This summary uses the sixth edition, the one in most
common circulation; in it, Darwin answered many of the
objections raised by his critics to the contents of the previous
editions. The word evolution is freely used in this summary,
even though Darwin did not use the word evolved until the
very end of the book. At the time, the word evolution still
carried some connotations of the unfolding of a predetermined
history, an impression Darwin labored to avoid. This summary
avoids the use of the words gene and genetic, concepts of
which Darwin was unaware (see Mendelian genetics).
The Origin of Species is not the Bible of modern biology.
There is none. Modern biologists are perfectly free to disagree