Charles Darwin is commonly misattributed with developing the entire theory of natural selection, which he describes in his work The Origin of Species. However, Darwin was not the first scientist to take note of phenomena regarding species self-improvement nor did he even coin the term “natural selection”. Instead, Darwin was simply the first to provide accurate, natural world justifications for why species’ self-improvement occurred and, moreover, was the first to leave divine influence out of those justifications. Darwin made this heavenly sacrifice without much discourse, as he himself increasingly lost faith throughout his life and took on an evolving deistic approach to personal religion. Despite this, Charles Darwin effectively uses morally
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This religious outlook led Darwin to reach “a guiding principle [of] ‘no miracles’”, which was strung throughout his works, maintaining that God’s influence was and is absent from the ticking of the natural world (Hunt). Darwin would not accept any justification for his natural observations that included otherworldly constructs. With this knowledge of Darwin and his personal ideals, it can clearly be deduced that his use of morally charged language cannot be a product of fervent religion or earnest moral justification, but rather must be a tool he used, either inadvertently or deliberately, to assist his …show more content…
Harmonizing with his “no miracles” principle, Darwin firmly asserts that the evolution of any species develops from a gradual process, which will outlast the lifetime of humans capable of its observation. When tracing a species’ self-improvement “we ought to look exclusively to its lineal ancestors… in order to see what gradations are possible” (Darwin 183). In fact, Darwin uses morally loaded language to first argue that the evolution of an animal’s eye, “with all its inmitable contrivances” could not have been caused simply by natural methods and, therefore, evolved at the will of higher powers (183). The elevated diction he uses to describe the complex operations and evolution of an eye, coupled with the concession that it must be due to powers greater that those on earth, resonate with a 19th century audience. However, Darwin then provides rebuttal to this concession and describes the concept that species gradually inherit abilities to preform more complex vision for diverse distances and varying lights. With a morally loaded concession to religious justifications and the logical counter-argument of gradualism, Darwin cleverly increases a reader’s support and potentially diverts ridicule of On the Origin of
This religious outlook led Darwin to reach “a guiding principle [of] ‘no miracles’”, which was strung throughout his works, maintaining that God’s influence was and is absent from the ticking of the natural world (Hunt). Darwin would not accept any justification for his natural observations that included otherworldly constructs. With this knowledge of Darwin and his personal ideals, it can clearly be deduced that his use of morally charged language cannot be a product of fervent religion or earnest moral justification, but rather must be a tool he used, either inadvertently or deliberately, to assist his …show more content…
Harmonizing with his “no miracles” principle, Darwin firmly asserts that the evolution of any species develops from a gradual process, which will outlast the lifetime of humans capable of its observation. When tracing a species’ self-improvement “we ought to look exclusively to its lineal ancestors… in order to see what gradations are possible” (Darwin 183). In fact, Darwin uses morally loaded language to first argue that the evolution of an animal’s eye, “with all its inmitable contrivances” could not have been caused simply by natural methods and, therefore, evolved at the will of higher powers (183). The elevated diction he uses to describe the complex operations and evolution of an eye, coupled with the concession that it must be due to powers greater that those on earth, resonate with a 19th century audience. However, Darwin then provides rebuttal to this concession and describes the concept that species gradually inherit abilities to preform more complex vision for diverse distances and varying lights. With a morally loaded concession to religious justifications and the logical counter-argument of gradualism, Darwin cleverly increases a reader’s support and potentially diverts ridicule of On the Origin of