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In 1830, nearly 30 years before the controversies over Charles Darwin and Origin began in England, France experienced their own heated debate over the issues of transformism. Charles Darwin introduced his own ideas on the subject of evolution in the 1859 bestseller, On the Origin of Species. Though Darwin's name and work are integral for background knowledge of both natural and social sciences today, the value of Origin as science was highly debatable in Darwin's time and he knew it. In fact, as sure as he was about his theories, he doubted their scientific credibility. "There is reason to believe that in the course of time the effects have been greater than can be proved by clear evidence. " I do not know how to emphasize this statement adequately.
Darwin is admitting that the evidence does not support his theory and that, even so, he still chooses to believe it anyway. Clearly, Darwin had enough of an intellectual upbringing to understand that unless a theory had been induced from observable facts it could never be more than a hypothesis, and, as such, could have no serious claims for scientific respect. He realized that evolution could not be observed directly and could only be deduced from indirect evidence. Thus, it was perhaps of no surprise to Darwin when, though his work was published, the reaction from the scientific community was silent and often hostile. A great majority of the British learned societies, both in and outside of London took a cautious line. Discussion of the theories put forth in Origin was expressly forbidden outside of the annual presidents' addresses, where it was the custom to have the chair summarize important events of the year in the field or, when people did, eventually, present empirical works that addressed issues brought up in Darwin's book.
The main objection, of course, had to do with the lack of scientific method and was implicit in the societies' rejection of "speculation which is somewhat ironic when one considers the widespread scientific acceptance of supernatural causes for questions of origins, as discussed earlier. Nevertheless, there was silence, both implicit and explicit. Darwin was acknowledged in the 1861 by the Society's Leonard Horner, who, in presenting a summary of the important developments of the year praised Darwin for his acute mind, the more than 20 years dedicated to his subject and his many ingenious experiments. He ended the speech by quoting from a review of Origin written by Thomas Huxley for the Westminster Review, April 1860, in which Huxley acknowledged that, although Darwin's theories did not yet satisfy all the requirements for scientific logic, they were superior to anything yet proposed both past and present As strict as some of the learned societies would be in their treatment of speculative thought, silence was not the rule everywhere.
By far Darwin received his best reception from the Entomological Society of London, where discussions of Origin were more frequent and open than in any of the other societies. This could partly be explained by the nature of their field. Insects provided a much wider range of data for testing in shorter intervals, and are far more numerous than mammals or fossils. The data Insecta provide is plentiful and accessible for theorizing, experimentation, and verification. The Entomological Society also had less formal and strict standards for what was considered "appropriate" in scientific discussions. In fact, records kept in their Proceedings of the Entomological Society reveal an informality and directness that contrasted nicely with the formal papers they discussed.
Like all scientists, Darwin developed his theory upon those of his predecessors. However, scientific view was always and remains - somewhat divided as to what contribution the theory makes to the organic sciences. Throughout the book, Darwin openly admits to the possibility of error and the need for further investigation; he is careful to point out that the idea of evolution by natural selection is "one of long argument. "
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Research essay sample on Learned Societies Charles Darwin Scientific
