Talk:Charles Darwin
It should be noted that this attitude was very much in line with the thinking of Darwin's time, and although his theory of evolution has withstood considerable examination over more than a century, he was not infallible.
Darwin: did he hold to weak atheism or agnosticism and did he lie about being an agnostic?
I believe that Darwin was a "weak atheist" and he was a proponent of what we would call scientism. I don't think that Darwin lied about being an "agnostic".
I cite the following:
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1877
Also, consider these:
http://bevets.com/equotesd.htm
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=rational-atheism (scientism)
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TUaveling.htm (Aveling said Darwin was an atheist. He met with Darwin.).
Also, consider this:
- Dr. Aveling has published an account of a conversation with my father. I think that the readers of this pamphlet ('The Religious Views of Charles Darwin,' Free Thought Publishing Company, 1883) may be misled into seeing more resemblance than really existed between the positions of my father and Dr. Aveling: and I say this in spite of my conviction that Dr. Aveling gives quite fairly his impressions of my father's views. Dr. Aveling tried to show that the terms "Agnostic" and "Atheist" were practically equivalent-that an atheist is one who, without denying the existence of God, is without God, inasmuch as he is unconvinced of the existence of a Deity. My father's replies implied his preference for the unaggressive attitude of an Agnostic. Dr. Aveling seems (page 5) to regard the absence of aggressiveness in my father's views as distinguishing them in an unessential manner from his own. But, in my judgment, it is precisely differences of this kind which distinguish him so completely from the class of thinkers to which Dr. Aveling belongs.
The writings of Charles Darwin on the web by John van Wyhe F. Darwin, ed., The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1905.
This might offer a little help in that it shows at some point Darwin abandoned theism altogether:
http://www.springerlink.com/content/m20576222124043j/
As I stated before it does seem as if Darwin was a weak atheist and believer in scientism and not the idea that the issue of God was forever insoluble which I believe modern agnostics hold to. I think the confusion comes in because Thomas Huxley (Darwin's Bulldog) who coined the term agnostic did not mean that the question of God was forever unknowable if I am not mistaken (but I certain could be in that I have not researched it in depth) Please see: http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/guide13.html.
Any thoughts on the above?
Conservative 23:34, 16 July 2008 (EDT)
Darwin's Death
The date of death listed on this article is off by a year. It should be 1882 not 1883. I would gladly fix said typo myself but it appears the article is locked.--ScottA 22:29, 21 October 2008 (EDT)