Darwin dissed again and again by a Brit! (Introduction)

by dhw, Wednesday, August 30, 2017, 12:01 (2425 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: I’m disappointed that you have focused on this and not even commented on the dreadful distortions underlying A.N. Wilson’s personal attacks on Darwin, which are the subject of my post. I know you disagree with Darwin, and you know that I have added the drive for improvement to the drive for survival. Meanwhile, I hope you will join me in condemning A.N. Wilson’s ad hominems for the reasons I have given in my post.

David: Sorry to disappoint you. I can only discuss what I am familiar with, which is a discussion of the science of evolution. My American impressions of Victorian England are romantic and vague and colored by fiction. Wilson's attacks on Darwin and his discussions of Victorian England are repeats of others I have read from other authors. I don't doubt your defense of him, as a proud Englishman, but do you really see Darwin, warts and all? I don't know the truth about him. I've not read his writings. Descent of Man has had some vicious reviews. I brought up the subject because I am surprised at the nasty attacks by British commentators.

I am no expert on Darwin, and my Englishness and A.N. Wilson’s Englishness have nothing to do with it. I am attacking his method of putting words into Darwin’s mouth and using a scientific theory of how different species evolved as a reason to lambast Darwin for other people’s prejudices and practices, culminating in the extermination of the Jews half a century after his death. This is neither science nor scholarship. I’m disappointed that you can’t see it.