Foto: Laetitia Buscaylet
Foto: Laetitia Buscaylet

Charles Darwin udgav i 1859 sit hovedværk “On the Origin of Species”, som argumenterede for, at alle planter og dyr nedstammer fra tidligere mere primitive former, og den drivende mekanisme for denne udvikling er den naturlige selektion.

Indhold

 

Forord

I 2007 var det 125 år siden, at den store britiske naturforsker Charles Darwin døde (12. februar 1809 – 19. april 1882).

Darwin og den unge socialist Alfred Russel Wallace offentliggjorde 1. juli 1858 deres revolutionerende evolutionsteorier om den naturlige udvælgelse i det videnskabelige selskab ‘Linnean Society’ i London, og 24. november 1859 udgav Darwin sit hovedværk On the Origin of Species (dansk udgave 1872: Om Arternes Oprindelse), som argumenterede for, at alle planter og dyr nedstammer fra tidligere mere primitive former, og den drivende mekanisme for denne udvikling er den naturlige selektion.

Værket vakte dengang enorm opsigt og kritik, men i dag er evolutionslæren bredt accepteret og udgangspunkt for al biologisk forskning.

Vi har i den anledning samlet materiale om Darwin og hans teorier og samtid, og om den stadige kritik fra religiøse kredse (i dag under dække af intelligent design-teorien).

2009 bliver det store Darwin-år: 200-året for Darwins fødsel (12. februar 1809) og 150-året for udgivelsen af bogen On the Origin of Species (24. november 1859). Vi har derfor ajourført og revideret emnelisten.

Bjarne A. Frandsen
April 2007/Januar 2009. Revideret juli 2023

 

Left: Photograph of Alfred Russel Wallace, taken in Singapore, 1862. Kilde: Marchant, James (1916) Alfred Russel Wallace — Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1. Photo: Unknown. Public Domain. Right: A photograph "Carte de Visite" of Charles Darwin from 1867 by Ernest Edwards (1837-1903). Public Domain.
Left: Photograph of Alfred Russel Wallace, taken in Singapore, 1862. Kilde: Marchant, James (1916) Alfred Russel Wallace — Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1. Photo: Unknown. Public Domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons. Right: A photograph “Carte de Visite” of Charles Darwin from 1867 by Ernest Edwards (1837-1903). Public Domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

Biografier og Bibliografier

Biografier

Leksikon for det 21. århundrede

Den Store Danske

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Se også Tidslinjen:

17. december 1831 om HMS Beagle-turen

Bibliografier

Darwinarkivet.dk

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Darwin og Evolution – Sites

På dansk (og norsk)

Darwinarkivet.dk

“Darwinarkivet.dk er stedet, hvor du får ordentlig besked fra en række af Danmarks førende eksperter om, hvordan Charles Darwins evolutionsteori blev modtaget og diskuteret i Danmark fra udgivelsen af Om Arternes Oprindelse i 1859 til 1920. Du kan finde alle dansk oversættelser af Darwins værker og en lang række artikler om Darwin og evolution.”

Evolution.dk
“Evolution.dk er skrevet af en række danske forskere fra vidt forskellige fagområder. Målet har været at vise, at evolutionsteorien ikke kun handler om biologi, men også har betydning for samfundet og kulturen.”

FaktaLink

  • Charles Darwin. Af Karina Søby Madsen (30. marts 2009, 9 sider)
  • Intelligent design. Af Karina Søby Madsen (20. november 2007, 11 sider)
    Betalingssite, som er gratis tilgængelig enten på dit lokale bibliotek eller på din hjemme-pc efter tilmelding på biblioteket.

Forskning.no

Intelligent Design
“Siden har undertitlen Intelligent Design og Evolution i Danmark og resten af Verden – og den er ikke mindre end en fantastisk guldgrube af links, bøger, avisartikler, debatter, blogs, anmeldelser, biografier om hovedpersoner i debatten og mange andre ressourcer.” (Online på Internet Archive, 2017).

Mennesketsoprindelse.dk

  • Menneskets oprindelse: om menneskets oprindelse og udvikling (Peter K. A. Jensens hjemmeside). Med Nyheder, Personer, Arter på menneskelinjen, Lokaliteter og Temaer.

Statens Naturhistoriske Museum

Videnskab.dk

In English

AboutDarwin.com
“Dedicated to the life and times of Charles Darwin.” (online at Internet Archive).

The American Museum of Natural History

  • Darwin Exhibition (2005-2006)
    “Discover the man and the revolutionary theory that changed the course of science and society.”

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
“This website is the largest collection of writings by and about Darwin ever published. It contains Darwin’s complete publications, many handwritten manuscripts and the largest Darwin bibliography and manuscript catalogue ever published. There are also over 200 ancillary texts, from reference works, reviews, obituaries, biographies and more.”

Darwin Correspondence Project
“Read and search the full texts of more than 12,000 of Charles Darwin’s letters, and find information on 3,000 more. Discover complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1878.”

National Center for Science Education: Defending the Teaching of Evolution in Public School
“We educate the press and public about the scientific, educational, and legal aspects of the creation and evolution controversy, and supply needed information and advice to defend good science education at local, state, and national levels.”

PBS

  • Evolution Library: Explore a multimedia library featuring video clips and web activities
    Contents: Darwin – Changes – Extinction – Survival – Sex – Humans – Religion

The TalkOrigins Archive
Exploring the Creation/Evolution controversy.

From The Illustrated Origin of Species. HMS Beagle in the seaways of Tierra del Fuego, painting by Conrad Martens (1801-1878) during the voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836), from The Illustrated Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, abridged and illustrated by Richard Leakey. Date: between 1831 and 1836. Public Domain. Date: between 1831 and 1836. Public Domain.
From The Illustrated Origin of Species. HMS Beagle in the seaways of Tierra del Fuego, painting by Conrad Martens (1801-1878) during the voyage of the Beagle (1831-1836), from The Illustrated Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, abridged and illustrated by Richard Leakey. Date: between 1831 and 1836. Public Domain. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

 

Artikler om Darwin og evolutionslæren

Aktuel Naturvidenskab

  • Daniela Fiedler: En guide til de mest almindelige misforståelser om evolution (nr.4, 2024)
    “Forståelse af evolutionære processer er en grundsten i den videnskabelige dannelse. Imidlertid trives misforståelser om evolution blandt elever på alle uddannelsesniveauer og i offentligheden. Det er derfor vigtigt at kende de mest almindelige misforståelser for effektivt at tackle dem i klasseværelset.”
  • Peter C. Kjærgaard: Darwins begejstring (pdf) (nr.1, 2009, s.28-31)
    “Ingen anden videnskabelig teori har som Darwins evolutionsteori skabt så megen debat uden for videnskabelige kredse. I år kan vi fejre både Darwins 200 års fødselsdag og 150-året for hans hovedværk Om Arternes Oprindelse.”
  • Tom Fenchel: Evolutionslæren (pdf) (nr.3, 2006, s.12-14)
    “At alt liv er beslægtet, og at der findes en mekanisme, der kan forklare udviklingen af kompleksitet uden behov for en ‘intelligent designer’ er den vigtigste erkendelse i biologiens historie.”

Aktivist.nu

  • Ole Sandberg: Kropotkins naturalistiske etik (pdf) (2008, 36 s.; online på Internet Archive)
    “Den videnskabelige og teoretiske diskussion om moralens oprindelse og menneskets natur med udgangspunkt i evolutionsteoretikerne Darwin, Huxley og Kropotkin.”
    Opgave ved Center for filosofi, Syddansk Universitet, Odense.

Arbejderen

  • Darwin-året er i gang og mange opruster (17. januar 2009)
    “2009 er 200-året for Charles Darwins fødsel. Han formulerede for 150 år siden som den første en udviklingslære baseret på naturens love. Det dobbelte jubilæum bliver fejret over hele kloden.”

Danmarks Radio

  • Kampen om evolutionen (P1, 22. september 2007, 55 min.) + Den uundgåelige evolution (P1, 29. september 2007, 55 min.). P.t. ikke online.
    “Videnskabens Verden sender i anledning af kreationismens fremmarch herhjemme to udsendelser om kreationisme, intelligent design og evolution.”
  • Hvor specielle er vi mennesker? (P1, Videnskabens verden, 15. september 2007, 55 min.). P.t. ikke online.
  • Gud eller Darwin? – om intelligent design i naturen (P1, Agenda, 22. oktober 2005, 55 min.). P.t. ikke online.
    “Er det blinde tilfældigheder eller højt begavet ingeniørkunst, der har frembragt alle det levende livs pragtfulde og komplekse former? Er naturen dum eller har den ånd?”

Darwinarkivet.dk

  • Myter og misforståelser
    “I den offentlige debat, i populærkulturen og i alle mulige forskellige ikke-akademiske sammenhænge finder vi et væld af forestillinger, ideer og påstande om Darwin og evolutionslæren … I det følgende kan du læse om nogle af de meste udbredte Darwin-myter. “

Denstoredanske.dk

  • Charles Darwin
    Hovedartiklen om Darwin og evolutionslæren, med værkliste og links.

FaktaLink

  • Charles Darwin. Af Karina Søby Madsen (30. marts 2009, 9 sider)
  • Intelligent design. Af Karina Søby Madsen (20. november 2007, 11 sider)
    Betalingssite, som er gratis tilgængelig enten på dit lokale bibliotek eller på din hjemme-pc efter tilmelding på biblioteket.

Forskning.no

  • Bjørnar Kjensli: Darwins hjelpere (12. februar 2009)
    “Selv om Artenes opprinnelse og evolusjonsteorien forbindes med én mann, Charles Darwin, var både arbeidet bak teorien og kampen for å få gjennomslag for den et resultat av nært samarbeid. Det skriver Iain McCalman i sin bok om Darwins hjelpere.”
  • Erik Tunstadt: Evolusjon: fra slik en enkel opprinnelse (10. februar 2009)
    “Det er storhet i dette synet på livet, skrev Charles Darwin på siste side av Artenes opprinnelse: Fra slik en enkel begynnelse, er det utviklet uendeligheter av vakre og vidunderlige former.”
  • Erik Tunstad: Darwins usvikelige teft (12. februar 2008)
    “Darwin brøt ofte med vitenskapelige formaliteter. Når det han observerte ikke stemte med vedtatte sannheter, da holdt han seg til det han observerte – og håpet at fremtiden ville gi ham rett. Hvilket den gjorde, igjen og igjen.”

Geoviden

  • Tema: Darwin i dansk videnskab og kultur (pdf) (nr.4, 2009, 19 sider)
    “Darwin i dansk videnskab og kultur – Evolutionsteoriens modtagelse og udvikling blandt danske naturforskere – Evolutionsteoriens modtagelse hos danske forfattere – Darwin og geologiens principper – Darwin og religiøse følelser – I Darwins fodspor …”

Information

Anton Geist: Jovist var Darwin racist (21. februar 2009)
“Darwin var en dedikeret modstander af slaveriet. Ny biografi skildrer, hvordan det fik betydning for hans evolutionsteori.” Se også anmeldelser nedenfor på Green Left Weekly og Socialist Review.

Leksikon om det 21. århundrede

Politiken

  • Peter C. Kjærgaard: Havde Darwin ret, eller var det Bibelens skabelsesberetning? (Kronik, 12. december 2008)
    ” Darwin-industrien i højt gear. Næste år bliver et ‘Darwin-år’ – både tilhængere og kritikere gør sig klar.”
  • Peter C. Kjærgaard: Kreationismens hule verden (Kronik, 28. august 2007)
    “Den kreationistiske bevægelse breder sig i Europa blandt kristne og muslimer. Det er nødvendigt at advare mod konsekvenserne.”

Rødt!/Gnist

  • Morten Falck: Darwins to ansikter (nr.3, 2009)
    “Det er den borgerlige engelske overklassens vennlige humanisme som former Darwins syn. Den overklassen som engasjerte seg sterkt i dyrevern, samtidig som den slaktet ned opprørske indere, kinesere, tasmanere, zuluer eller irer når det var nødvendig for å sikre koloniriket og superprofittene derfra.”

Skeptica.dk

  • Claus Larsen: En kritik af Origo nr. 105: ‘Hvad din biologibog ikke fortæller’, og tilhørende vejledning (7. august 2009)
    “Baggrunden for denne kritik er forlaget Origos specialhæfte (nr. 105) om evolution og kristen skabelse (i hæftet kaldet ‘intelligent design’). Hæftet er solgt i over 1.000 eksemplarer, primært til kristne friskoler. Denne kritik vil gennemgå de enkelte påstande i hæftet og lærervejledningen, og undersøge om de er videnskabeligt underbyggede.”
  • Arne Astrup m.fl.: Skal fundamentalister kontrollere naturvidenskaben? (1. oktober 2005)
    “‘Intelligent design’ og de andre inkarnationer af kreationisme er trods alle de fine ord simpelthen før-moderne religiøse teorier, der vil tage monopol på, hvordan mennesker – hvad enten de er religiøse eller ej – skal forstå naturen.”
    Se også Emne: Kreationisme

Slagmark

  • Temanummer: Darwinisme (nr.54, forår 2009, s.7-156)
    “Af emner [i temaet] kan nævnes Darwin-industrien, Darwins racebegreb, dyrepsykologi, uorganisk darwinisme, intelligent design, darwinisme og litteratur, Darwin i Danmark og forholdet mellem naturvidenskab og religion.”
    Se her bl.a. Poul Duedahl: Læst og påskrevet – om racebegrebet hos Darwin (s.33-45)

Socialistisk Arbejderavis

  • Phil Gasper: Darwins farlige ideer (nr.273, 11. oktober 2007)
    “Socialister bør tage teorien om evolution til sig, fordi beviserne i dens favør er så overvældende, ikke fordi den har radikale filosofiske konsekvenser. Men teoriens konsekvenser har en karakter der gør, at socialister i modsætning til konservative fuldt ud kan tilslutte sig dem.”

Den Store Danske

Videnskab.dk

  • Tobias Wang: Store opdagelser: Darwin og evolutionstanken (30. april 2014)
    “I 1859 udgav den engelske naturhistoriker Charles Darwin den mest skelsættende bog i biologiens historie: Om Arternes Oprindelse. Her foreslog han, at naturlig selektion kan forklare, hvordan Jordens dyre- og plantearter har udviklet sig igennem Jordens historie.”
  • Peter Borberg og Thorsten Asbjørn Lauritsen: Er Darwin fit nok til at overleve? (12. februar 2009)
    “I dag kan Darwin fejre 200 års fødselsdag. Hans teori om livets udvikling spås stærke overlevelseschancer til trods for helt nye naturvidenskabelige indsigter.”

Wikipedia, den frie encyklopædi

Bøger

Arternes oprindelse ved naturlig selektion eller bevarelse af de bedst tilpassede racer i kampen for tilværelsen
Af Charles Darwin. Nyoversættelse ved Jørn Madsen (Statens Naturhistoriske Museum, 2009, 388 sider). Med introduktioner af Peter C. Kjærgaard (side 9-22) + Jørn Madsen (side 23-36).
Se 1872-udgaven online med introduktion (Darwinarkivet.dk) + Appendix: Charles Darwins ’Arternes oprindelse’, 1859 (Socialistisk Bibliotek)

Bedst af alle verdener: myter i det 21. århundrede
Red. af Dan Frederiksen og Lars Peter Jepsen (Fremad, 2000)
Heri:
Dan Frederiksen: Kampen om menneskets oprindelse (s.38-62; online på Skeptica.dk, 1. juli 2004)
“Om de amerikanske fundamentalisters angreb på Darwin … om hvordan kapitalstærke religiøse kræfter har kunnet påvirke politikere og lærere til at formidle et verdensbillede, der er i skarp modsætning med meget veletablerede opfattelser fra naturvidenskaben.” Se også Dann Simonsens kommentar til Dan Frederiksens artikel (Skeptica.dk, 1. oktober 2000)

Darwin eller intelligent design
Red. af Torben Hammersholt Christensen og Søren Harnow Klausen (Forlaget Anis, 2007, 335 sider)
“Hvilke argumenter bruger tilhængerne af intelligent design? Hvad indeholder Darwins teori om arternes udvikling? Er intelligent design videnskab? … Sådanne spørgsmål besvares og diskuteres i denne bog, som er en grundlæggende introduktion til debatten om intelligent design i dens mange facetter.”

Darwin – og idéen der vendte verden på hovede
Af Line Friis Møller (DR, 2009, 165 sider)
“Om Charles Darwin (1809-1882), hans rejse med Beagle til Galapagos-øerne og tiden derefter og ikke mindst om hans evolutionsteori, der ændrede synet på mennesket og naturen.”

Darwins teori: om evolution, videnskab og sandhed
Af Richard Dawkins (Thaning & Appel, 2009, 449 sider)
“Med Charles Darwins formulering af evolutionsteorien i ‘Arternes oprindelse’, ændredes menneskets syn på verden. Men hvordan er det nu menneskets, dyrenes og planternes udvikling kan forklares evolutionært? Få svarene i den verdenskendte forsker og naturvidenskabsformidler Richard Dawkins’ bog.”
Se anmeldelse af Dennis Nørmark (Jyllands-Posten, 23. januar 2010)

Det ufattelige liv: evolution, bevidsthed, religion, eksistens
Af Bent Foltman. 3. opdaterede og reviderede udgave (BIOS, 2008, 383 sider)
“Bogen begynder med en biografi om Charles Darwin. Men hovedvægten er et sjældent tværsnit gennem den moderne evolutionsbiologi, og de konsekvenser den kan have for livets eksistentielle spørgsmål fra bevidsthed til filosofi, religion og etik.”
Se anmeldelse af Kim A. Hueg (Ingeniøren, 18. august 2000)

Evolution: den forudsigelige vilkårlighed
Af Freddy Bugge Christiansen og Tom Fenchel (Aarhus Universitetsforlag, 2009, 226 sider (Univers)
“Denne bog giver læseren et samlet overblik over Darwins skelsættende teori og dens udvikling. Linjen trækkes fra gennembruddet med Charles Darwins hovedværk Arternes oprindelse i 1859 og frem til den molekylære genetiks revolutionerende resultater i de seneste år.”

Menneskets afstamning og parringsvalget
Af Charles Darwin. Oversat af J.P. Jacobsen, sprogligt bearbejdet af Lotte Langer og introduktion af Hans Henrik Hjermitslev (side 5-8) (Husets Forlag, 2009, 486 sider)
Se 1874-udgaven online med introduktion (Darwinarkivet.dk)
Se også om J.P. Jacobsen og darwinisme, på tidslinjen 7.april 1847.

Skaberens signatur?
Af J.B. Felland (Nyt Teknisk Forlag, 2007, 176 sider)
“Bogen går kritisk til nogle påståede naturvidenskabelige beviser på Guds eksistens, herunder Intelligent Design.”
Se Jan Felland: Gud bevist eller modbevist? (Information.dk, 1. september 2007)

Som at tilstå et mord: Darwin & idéen der forandrede verden
Af Hanne Strager (Gyldendal, i samarbejde med Statens Naturhistoriske Museum, 2009, 208 sider). Genoptrykt med titlen: Et beskedent geni: historien om Darwin’s liv og ideen, der forandrede verden (Gyldendal, 2016, 287 sider)
“Hanne Strager fortæller om alle de brikker, Darwin samlede sammen til det store puslespil om livets udvikling. Samtidig fører hun læseren up to date med de opdagelser, som er gjort efter Darwins tid, og som gør evolutionsteorien til en af nutidens bedst underbyggede, videnskabelige teorier.”
Se:
Hans Henrik Hjermitslev: Darwin på dansk (pdf) (Slagmark, nr.75, 2017, side 186-188)
Hanne Strager: Som at tilstå et mord (Kristeligt Dagblad, 12. februar 2009)

Articles on Darwin and Evolution

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Against the Current

  • Ansar Fayyazuddin: On Darwin’s 200th Anniversary (No.143, November-December 2009)
    “Darwin is the subject of vast amounts of scholarly research, including much writing appearing in this anniversary year. Here I want to touch on a few aspects of Darwin’s life and work that I find interesting.”
  • Rob Bartlett: Evidence and Evolution : a controversial theory (No.121, March/April 2006)
    “Any casual reader of newspapers cannot fail to have noticed a steady stream of articles dealing with evolution … where local or state boards of education or legislators introduce challenges to the central paradigm in biology of evolution, in the name of ‘teaching the controversy’ or allowing the ‘evidence contradicting evolution’.”

CounterPunch

  • Manuel Garcia, Jr.: Darwin’s living legacy (February 6-8, 2009)
    “This February 12th is the bicentennial birthday of one of the greatest minds in history. This man’s inquisitive nature, generous spirit, strong character and hatred of slavery led him to ideas that jolted the society of his times, led to protracted conflict, and caused a seismic shift in how civilized society thought of human beings and life itself.”

Critique of Intelligent Design: Materialism versus Creationism from Antiquity to the Present
By John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark and Richard York (Monthly Review Press, 2008, 240 p.)
“The book is a direct reply to the criticisms of intelligent design proponents and a compelling account of the long debate between materialism and religion in the West.”

Direct Action

  • Rebekah Ward: Charles Darwin: The reluctant revolutionary (Issue 17, November 2009)
    “A century and a half has passed since Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, yet this book is still surrounded with controversy. It would not be an overstatement to say that the ideas of Charles Darwin on evolution sparked a revolution in human thought. But like most revolutionary ideas, Darwinism was, and still is, contested.”

eSkeptic

  • 27 ways to honor Charles Darwin (pdf) (March 2009; online at Internet Archive)
    “As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species, the Skeptics Society put together a list of 25 items from our catalogue with books, DVDs, CDs, and back issues of Skeptic magazine devoted to Darwin and evolution.”
  • Michael Shermer: The real evolution Anniversary (July 2, 2008)
    “This article recounts how the discovery of natural selection came to be noted in the historical record, and who really deserves the credit.”

Green Left Weekly

  • Phil Shannon: Darwin’s struggle against ‘scientific’ racism (Issue 793, 6 May 2009). Review of Adrian Desmond & James Moore’s Darwin’s Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery & the Quest for Human Origins (Allen Lane, 2009)
    “Charles Darwin did not discover evolution in splendid scientific isolation, say Adrian Desmond and James Moore. Rather, it was Darwin’s moral passion against the enslavement of black Africans that powered his science of the unity of black and white humans from a common ape-like ancestor.” See also review by Richard Webster: The Darwin legend (2002) + review below at Socialist Review.
  • Ian Angus: Charles Darwin and materialist science (Issue 782, February 11, 2009)
    “By the time he died in 1882, few scientists still disputed the fact of evolution – but it took much longer for most to accept the materialist core of Darwin’s work, that variation and natural selection are the processes that drive evolution.

History of Political Thought

  • D.A. Stack: The first Darwinian left: radical and socialist responces to Darwin, 1859-1914 (pdf) (Vol. 21, No. 4, Winter 2000, p.682-710; online at Internet Archive)
    “Myths, misunderstanding and neglect have combined to obscure our understanding of the relationship between left-wing politics and Darwinian science. This article seeks to redress the balance by studying how radical and socialist thinkers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, desperate to legitimate their work with scientific authority, wrestled with the paradoxical challenges Darwinism posed for their politics.”
    See also book review by Terry Sullivan: Evolution and Revolution (Socialist Review, Issue 279, November 2003; online at Internet Archive)

In Defence of Marxism

  • John Pickard: Darwin’s science vs ‘Intelligent Design’ (24 November 2009)
    “A part of challenging Creationism/Intelligent Design’s right wing agenda is opposing their undermining of Science and for that reason alone socialists should celebrate the publication of the Origin as a brilliant milestone in the development of a materialist world outlook.”
  • John Pickard: 150th anniversary of publication of Origin of the Species (19 February 2009)
    “November of this year sees the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s famous book, Origin of the Species. The beautifully simple idea embodied in his book – evolution by natural selection – was a revolutionary departure with profound scientific and philosophical implications.”
  • Stephen Jay Gould: Darwin’s untimely burial – despite reports to the contrary, the theory of natural selection remains very much alive (1976)
    “This interesting article was originally written for Natural History in October 1976.”

International Communist Current

  • Alfred Russel Wallace and his inestimable contribution to the workers’ movement (January 26, 2010)
    “It would be wrong to see Alfred Russel Wallace as the ‘forgotten man’ in the shadow of Charles Darwin. He was anything but. Neither is this piece a song for an unsung hero; Wallace, unlike many scientists, was rightly feted in his own time and recognised as the brilliant scientist that he was.”
  • Social Darwinism: a reactionary ideology of capitalism (November 4, 2009)
    “Whereas ‘Social Darwinism’ only sees in the evolution of human society the result of the selection of the fittest, Darwin on the contrary saw here the growing reproduction of the social instincts such as altruism, solidarity, sympathy etc.”
  • A view on Charles Darwin’s ‘Descent of Man…’ (August 22, 2009)
    “Darwin only once mentions the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ in this book and that’s to take a clear position against it – in fact the whole book is a clear position against that bourgeois interpretation, as well as dog eat dog capitalist competition generally.”
  • Darwin and the workers movement (February 9, 2009)
    “The marxist wing of the workers’ movement has always saluted Darwin’s outstanding contributions to humanity’s understanding of itself and nature.”

International Socialism

  • Alex Callinicos: Darwin, materialism and evolution (Issue 71, Summer 1996). Review of D.C. Dennett, Darwin’s Dangerous Idea (1995).
    “[The book] is invaluable reading, not merely to understand Darwin better, but also to see why philosophy is still an activity worth engaging in.”

International Socialist Review

  • Ian Angus: Marx and Engels…and Darwin? (Issue 65, May–June 2009)
    “The essential connection between historical materialism and natural selection.” Also online as an Socialist Voice pamphlet (2009).
  • Phil Gasper: Darwin’s dangerous ideas: why evolutionary biology creates a problem for the Right (Issue 54, July–August 2007)
    “Socialists should embrace the theory of evolution because the evidence in its favor is overwhelming, not because it has radical philosophical implications. But the theory’s implications are ones that socialists, unlike conservatives, can fully embrace.”

London Review of Books

  • Steven Shapin: The Darwin Show (Vol.32, No.1, 7 January 2010)
    “The offensive against the atavistically religious and the misunderstanders may not be quite what it seems, or at least not quite as straightforwardly targeted as it seems. There is little public understanding of evolutionary theory, but there is little public understanding of physical chemistry or thermodynamics or bio-informatics.”

MR Online

  • Ian Angus: Charles Darwin: Reluctant revolutionary (February 12, 2009)
    “What made Darwin’s work unique was not his assertion that evolution was a fact, but his entirely materialist explanation of how all of life’s wonderful variations and designs had come to be.”

Natural History

Stephen Jay Gould: Kropotkin was no crackpot (Vol.97, No.7, 1988, p.12-21; online at Marxists Internet Archive)
“In fact, I would hold that Kropotkin’s basic argument is correct … If Kropotkin overemphasized mutual aid, most Darwinians in Western Europe had exaggerated competition just as strongly.” See also Kropotkin: Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution (1902).

Nature

  • Philip Ball: Shipping timetables debunk Darwin plagiarism accusations (12 December 2011)
    “Charles Darwin was not a plagiarist, say two researchers who aim to refute the idea that Darwin revised his own theory of evolution to fit in with one proposed by fellow naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace.”

New Humanist

  • Peter C Kjærgaard: Western front (Vol.123, Issue 3, May/June 2008)
    “While secularists sleep well-funded creationists are on the march in Europe.”

New Scientist

  • John van Wyhe: ‘Radical’ new biography of Darwin is unreliable and inaccurate (21 August 2017)
    Review of A.N. Wilson, Charles Darwin: Victorian mythmaker (John Murray, 2017, 438 p.): “The result is one of the most unreliable, inaccurate and tendentious anti-Darwin books of recent times.”
  • Graham Lawton: Why Darwin was wrong about the tree of life (Issue 2692, 24 January 2009)
    “The tree of life, one of the iconic concepts of evolution, has turned out to be a figment of our imagination.”
  • Michael Le Page: Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptions (29 May 2008)
    “If you think you understand it, you don’t know nearly enough about it. Our special issue looks at the biggest myths about evolution.”

The New York Review of Books

  • Richard C. Lewontin: Why Darwin? (Vol.56, No.9, May 28, 2009)
    “Why do we call the modern theory of organic evolution ‘Darwinism’? Charles Darwin certainly did not invent the idea of evolution, or even the idea that a process of evolution had occurred in the history of life. The primary reason for the extraordinary recent interest in Darwin is the revival of its counterpoint – intelligent design theory.”

Reason in Revolt
By Alan Woods and Ted Grant (London, Wellred, 1995)

  • Marxism and Darvinism (p. 309-322)
    Contents: Darwin’s gradualism – No progress? – Marxism and Darwinism – Darwin and Malthus – Social Darwinism.

Scientific American

  • Special issue: The evolution of evolution (Vol.300, No.1, January 2009, p.24-85). Introduction: Darwin’s living legacy – evolutionary theory 150 years later. By Gary Stix (p.24-29) + 9 other articles about Creationism, Evolution, Hominid Evolution, Natural Selection and Pop Evolutionary Psychology.
  • John Rennie: 15 answers to Creationist nonsense (July 2002)
    “Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don’t hold up.”
  • Stefaan Blancke and Peter C. Kjærgaard: Creationism invades Europe (Vol.315, No.4, October 2016; online at Internet Archive)
    “An antiscience movement once limited mostly to the U.S. is gaining ground on the eastern side of the Atlantic.”

Socialism Today

  • Life on earth. By Niall Mulholland (Issue 145, February 2011). Review of Jerry A. Coyne, Why Evolution is True (Oxford University Press, 2009)
    “Coyne, a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, gives a concise, lucid explanation of what evolution is, as well as its robust defence against the falsifications of its opponents, including religious creationists.”
  • A revolutionary thinker. By Andy Hammond (Issue 126, March 2009)
    Review of The Natural History Museum exhibition: Darwin’s Big Idea.

The Socialist

  • Roy Farrar: The legacy of Charles Darwin (9 December 2009)
    “This feature marks this year’s bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species by summarising some of Darwin’s ideas and their significance.”
  • Bill North: The evidence for Evolution (20 October 2009). Review of Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth (2009) + Jerry Coyne’s Why Evolution is True (2009)
    “Dawkins is one of the best known popular science writers. Coyne is a University of Chicago professor who has taught evolutionary biology for over 20 years. Coyne clearly admires Dawkins’ work while Dawkins’ review of Coyne’s book described it as ‘marvellous’.”

Socialist Review

  • John Parrington: The pure society (Issue 337, June 2009). Review of André Pichot, The Pure Society: From Darwin to Hitler (Verso, 2009).
    “Charles Darwin’s legacy has been much celebrated recently, this year being the bicentenary of his birth. However, according to this book, there is a much darker side of evolutionary thought that should not be forgotten.”
  • John Parrington: Charles Darwin: revolution of evolution (Issue 333, February 2009)
    “Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace formulated the theory of evolution and fought for its acceptance across the scientific community.”
    See also debate: Wallace and Darwin by Pete Wearden (Issue 334, March) + A class traitor? by Nick Grant (Issue 334, March) + Darwin and Wallace by John Parrington (Issue 335, April) + Wallace’s evolution by Barry Conway (Issue 335, April)
  • Terry Sullivan: Darwin’s sacred cause (Issue 333, February 2009). Review of Adrian Desmond and James Moore’s Darwin’s Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins (Allen Lane, 2009) + Anti-slavery theory by Phil Webster (Issue 334, March). See also review above at Green Left Weekly.
  • The evolution revolution (Issue 150, February 1992)
    “Darwin’s theory of evolution was one of the great breakthroughs in materialist thought of the last century. A fascinating new biography puts Darwin in his social context. One of its authors, James Moore, talked to Lindsey German and Chris Harman.” See review of the book above (Green Left Weekly) and Richard Webster: The Darwin legend (2002).
  • Mike Simons: Darwin’s new dawn (Issue 114, November 1988)
    “Charles Darwin, like Marx and Engels, was one of the nineteenth century’s greatest revolutionary thinkers … His was the first fully materialist explanation of the natural world. As such it was a rebuff for superstition and religion and it was this that frightened him.”

Socialist Voice

  • Ian Angus: Charles Darwin and materialist science (pdf) (Issue 305, February 6, 2009, p.6-9; online at Marxists Internet Archive)
    “Although Darwin’s political views were far from radical, his insights became the central weapons in the battle to establish materialist science as the basis for our understanding of the world, and contributed to the development of Marxism.”

Socialist Worker (UK)

  • Alex Callinicos: Charles Darwin’s discovery (Issue 2138, 14 February 2009)
    “Alex Callinicos looks at the political controversies that still surround Charles Darwin, who was born 200 years ago, and founded modern biology with his theory of evolution.”
  • Viren Swami: There’s no ‘intelligent design’ for life (Socialist Worker, Issue 1974, 29 October 2005)
    “In the first column in our new series [1-3] on evolution and society, Viren Swami looks at the debates over the theory of evolution.”

Socialist Worker (US)

  • Phil Gasper: Darwin’s revolutionary ideas (Issue 690, February 12, 2009)
    “Charles Darwin’s ideas revolutionized biology in the 19th century, but they also had a profound and lasting impact far outside narrow scientific circles, challenging religious dogmas and affecting almost every field of human knowledge.”

State of Nature

  • Dennis Chapman: God is not dead: Intelligent Design theory and evolution (Issue 1, Autumn 2005; online at Internet Archive)
    “This paper argues that, while evolution is an empirically-rich research programme whose theories support and fit into many scientific disciplines, Intelligent Design Theory (IDT) is an empirically-poor research programme with very little support from other scientific disciplines.”

Sulloway.org

  • Frank J. Sulloway: Why Darwin rejected Intelligent Design (pdf) (John Brockman (ed.): Intelligent thought, Vintage, 2006, p.107-126)
    “There is considerable irony in the fact that Charles Darwin was at one time enthralled by the theory that all species are intelligently designed – a theory he later sought to banish from science in his Origin of Species (1859).” See more about Darwin and Evolution at the authors site.

Weekly Worker

  • Huw Sheridan: Beyond the limits (Issue 784, September 10, 2009 ). Review of Steve Jones’s Darwin’s island: The Galapagos in the garden of England (Little, Brown, 2009)
  • Huw Sheridan: Darwin’s revolution (Issue 758, February 26, 2009)
    “This year is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th of the publication of his seminal On the origin of species by means of natural selection. Huw Sheridan looks at its importance for communists.”
  • Mike Macnair: Darwinism and Marxism (Issue 461, December 19, 2002). Review of Stephen Jay Gould, The structure of evolutionary theory (Belknap/Harvard University Press, 2002)

World Socialist Web Site

  • Chris Talbot: Marx and Darwin: Two great revolutionary thinkers of the nineteenth century. Part 1-3 (17-19 June 2009)
    “Marx and Engels immediately recognised the significance of Darwin’s theory when On the Origin of Species appeared 150 years ago, laying out a scientific conception of the process of historical evolution of the biological world.”

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