达尔文年的“非达尔文”学者 西科德教授访谈录

<正>作者注此访谈曾以英文形式发表于《剑桥研究杂志》(Journal of Cambridge Studies)第4卷第4期,中文版文字略有修改,注解均为我这次新加,以补充必要的背景。在我对剑桥大学科学史与科学哲学系进行学术访问期间(2008年9月至     

华莱士与达尔文的分歧

华莱士与达尔文在性别二态性、杂交与杂种不育及人类的起源问题上存有分歧：达尔文采取多元论,在自然选择学说中引入性选择与相关律的解释,华莱士则坚持适应主义的自然选择一元论,但在人类进化问题上引入了唯灵论的超自然解释。分歧反映出达尔文主义在“非达尔文革命”中的困境：遗传学的不足与进步主义的盛行使神学进化论与科学进化论妥协的可能依然存在。,     

达尔文与基督教世界的沟通他的跨洋策略

在达尔文出生的那个年代,没有人会接受关于进化和人类起源的自然主义学说,他在那个时代分享了他关于自然、上帝以及历史的观念。在“贝格尔号”航行之后,他提出的“生命始于同一祖先”理论如何能令人信服,是他面临的巨大挑战。自从达尔文开始进化论的研究之后,他对“我的理论”的推广并非一定意在反驳宗教教义,而是作为宗教和科学的进步。达尔文深信的一条教义,就是人类具有共同祖先或者说所有种族皆兄弟——这可作为废除黑奴制度的一个理论根据。英国已于1838年废除了奴隶制,世界的目光于是转向美国——该国奴隶制正如火如荼,并得到一种支持奴隶制、主张人种多元的新特创论的支持。达尔文的跨洋策略自19世纪50年代开始便深深影响着美国反奴隶制的精英博物学家,他们对共同祖先理论的支持将被用来颠覆这一人种多元特创论——比用《圣经》中那不足凭信的人种同一论更为有效。因此,他的理论可作为道德和科学领域的进步而引起美国基督教世界废奴主义者的兴趣。然而,该策略却从未完全发挥自身所有的潜力,这使特创论在20世纪萌生了新的形式。     

The genius of Erasmus Darwin. The International Conference and Commemoration of the Bicentenary of the Death of Erasmus Darwin was held in Lichfield,Staffordshire from 19-22 April 2002

In a concluding session, David Knight (University of Durham) took the title '"One great slaughter-house the warring world"--living in revolutionary times'. He pointed out that Darwinian thought had to contend with three revolutions. First, the political revolutions of 1776 and 1789, leading to the terror of the 1790s that washed over the English Midlands leaving Priesley's house burnt and Priestley himself exiled to America. Second, the scientific revolution, which valued exact knowledge and specialism rather than wide syntheses. Third, the Romantic revolution which emphasized the tragic rather than the cheerful optimism of Darwin's heroic couplets. For all these reasons Darwin's influence waned. However, Knight finished on an optimistic note that echoed King-Hele's opening address, saying that in our own times, as suspicion of experts grows, and some, at least, see science as a liberating force, Darwin's fame may recover. Negotiations are in process for the publication of the proceedings under the title 'The genius of Erasmus Darwin: proceedings of a bicentennial conference', and a website has been constructed that contains details of all speakers (http://www.bham.ac.uk/erasmusdarwin/).     

The 1909 Darwin celebration. Reexamining evolution in the light of Mendel, mutation, and meiosis

In June 1909, scientists and dignitaries from 167 different countries gathered in Cambridge to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth and the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species. The event was one of the most magnificent commemorations in the annals of science. Delegates gathered within the cloisters of Cambridge University not only to honor the "hero" of evolution but also to reassess the underpinnings of Darwinism at a critical juncture. With the mechanism of natural selection increasingly under attack, evolutionary theory was in disarray. Against this backdrop, biologists weighed the impact of several new developments--the rediscovery of Mendel's laws of heredity, de Vriesian mutation theory, and the linkage of sex-cell division (recently named "meiosis") to the mechanism of heredity. The 1909 Darwin celebration thus represents a significant watershed in the history of modem biology that allows historians to assess the status of evolution prior to the advent of the chromosome theory of genetics.