Article ID: CBB202149987

Accentuate the negative: Locating possibility in Darwin’s ‘long argument’ (2021)

unapi

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species has an unusual format. After presenting his theory of Natural Selection in its first four chapters, there follows a series of five chapters presenting a large number of problems and objections to the theory which, he admits, appear overwhelming. Not until chapter 10 does he begin to present what he takes to be the positive evidence for his theory. In this paper I trace the evolution of this structure from its first hints in his Species Notebooks , through the 1842 Sketch and 1844 Essay to the Origin, showing that it reflects a growing awareness on Darwin’s part of what I call ’In Principle Impossible’ arguments against his theory, and of a systematic strategy for disarming them.

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Authors & Contributors
Robert Ready
Partridge, Derek
Michael Dee
Wright, Jeffrey Thomas
Wilmer, Clive
Holterhoff, Kate
Concepts
Evolution
Natural selection
Rhetoric in scientific discourse
Darwinism
Explanation; hypotheses; theories
Biology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
18th century
Places
Great Britain
England
Denmark
Institutions
Linnean Society of London
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