(May 6, 2014 at 10:27 am)Chuck Wrote: Darwin may not have said men descended from apes in his "origins", but that becomes a trivial tpoint because it is an evident, and endorsed, deduction to be readily made from what he did say.
Climbing on an imaginary high horse about trivialities would not enhance the fruitfulness of any discussion, it only shows a disagreeable will to dominate the discussion using whatever excuse is at hand, even at the expense of fruitfulness of discussion.
Just out of interest, I would go so far as to say Darwin's Origin was a direct influence on Huxley and Owen who were the originators of that particular theory.
I think we need to be clear that Darwin gave the world a workable theory of evolution and in the Descent of Man acknowledges a 'less highly organised form'. He would certainly have been aware of Huxley and Owen's work before he wrote Descent but he pulled short of including in his conclusion. Darwin must have had his reasons for doing so. I don't think that's trivial, I think that's quite important.
MM
"The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions" - Leonardo da Vinci
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
"I think I use the term “radical” rather loosely, just for emphasis. If you describe yourself as “atheist,” some people will say, “Don’t you mean ‘agnostic’?” I have to reply that I really do mean atheist, I really do not believe that there is a god; in fact, I am convinced that there is not a god (a subtle difference). I see not a shred of evidence to suggest that there is one ... etc., etc. It’s easier to say that I am a radical atheist, just to signal that I really mean it, have thought about it a great deal, and that it’s an opinion I hold seriously." - Douglas Adams (and I echo the sentiment)
