The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw

Michael Ruse (born 1940) is an English philosopher of biology, and is well known for his work on the creationism/evolution controversy. He writes in the Prologue to this 1979 book, "I have been led to write this book as a synthesis of the Darwinian Revolution, using the most recent findings and interpretations, for readers like myself who have a serious interest in the history of science and want to dig beneath glib generalizations and stark dramatizations, but who do not have the specialized knowledge and aims of the professional scholar." Concerning the impact that Robert Chambers' Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation and Other Evolutionary Writings, Ruse explains, "Vestiges acted as something of a lightning rod---a terrific amount of spleen and argumentation was poured out against it, to some extent exhausting the batteries of the opposing troops... Moreover, one suspects that all the invective against Vestiges may have provoked a backlash." Ruse states, "One suspects that Darwin was eased toward evolutionism by the ideas of his grandfather and of Lamarck. Darwin shared causal speculations with them and with the later evolutionists Chambers and Spencer, specifically about the inheritance of acquired characteristics."

Early 19th Century Britain was ripe for Darwin's "On the Origin of Species..." Geology was coming into it's own. Ancient fossils were being uncovered by the carload. Eager and well trained botanists and biologists were out in the field collecting and sending back to England treasure troves of specimens. Add to all that a community of dedicated scientists eager for new ideas, as well as a scholarly atmosphere where the concept of evolution was already in the air. Even the religious orientation of the time helped to spur Dariwn along. Ruse does a masterful job of describing this milieu and showing how it affected Darwin's endeavors over three decades. While the bibiliography is all that one could ask for, the inadequate index and the lack of a glossary will probably hamper anyone not familiar with that age and with Darwin himself. Otherwise, this is an excellent overview of a remarkable age and an even more remarkable person.

This is an excellent book by a distinguished scholar who is also a fine writer. The Darwinian Revolution is the story of a scientific community producing and assimilating one of the most momentous sets of ideas in human history. Ruse deals thoughtfully and carefully with the scientific, philosophic, religous, and social background of British biology in the early 19th century, how this community became focused on the issue of evolution, how Darwin integrated himself into this community, and how this community dealt with the consequences of Darwin's work. Ruse does a fine job of describing the work of Darwin and his precursors, provides a nice and concise social history of this community, deals sensitively with the religous dimensions of these issues, and does a really commendable job of examining the state of philosophy of science in the early Victorian period. Written about 20 years ago, the conclusions of this book are still largely valid and Ruse provides a nice afterword to this edition to update his thinking on these questions. Ruse is a clear writer with an almost conversational style. This is really the book for readers interested in beginning an exploration of this interesting topic. This is also an excellent companion volume to Janet Browne's superb biography of Darwin, still incomplete, because it covers much of the same ground but with an emphasis on this community of British scientists rather than Browne's focus on Darwin himself. A particularly interesting feature of the book is Ruse's explanation of the reception of Darwin's ideas by his colleagues. Ruse points out that the academic biologists were largely able to go only part way with Darwin; they accepted evolution as a doctrine but were more resistant to the importance of natural selection. There were both internal scientific and external philosophical/social reasons for this relative resistance to Darwin's scheme. The full triumph of Darwinism has occurred in this century with the development of population genetics and more recently, large scale ecological experiments and studies.

Michael Ruse does a masterful job of showing the context of Darwin's work. Ruse, who is a professor of philosophy covers in great detail the culture of Darwin's time with a great deal of information on the biological theories of Darwin's day along with many of the major players and their various attitudes and especially their philosophies of science and in particular biology (and geology). This book is a must for anyone who wants a good historical view of Darwin. It is well written and clear but it is not a light read and it is not for the casual student.