Re: [asa] Darwin's twin track: 'Evolution and emancipation'

As his family was already anti-slavery, largely reflecting the
Biblical teachings that suggest common ancestry of all humans, the
claim that researching evolution was motivated by a desire to refute
the idea of separation of races seems rather doubtful. In fact, the
leading force behind abolition of slavery in Britain, William
WIlberforce, was the father of the WIlberforce famous for being on the
against evolution side of a debate with Huxley. (The account of
Huxley claiming in the debate that he would rather be descended from
an ape than from someone who would monkey with the standards of debate
derives from Huxley's much later memoirs; in reality, at the debate
itself no one was much impressed one way or the other. Huxley was not
very audible, but Hooker may have gotten in a line like that.)

Although the Bible and evolution are probably the two most prominent
sources arguing for commonality of all humans, it's also possible to
take up ideas from either or both in support of a racist agenda. In
fact, as evolution does not tell us what we ought to do, it is not
particularly effective against racism.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
To unsubscribe, send a message to majordomo@calvin.edu with
"unsubscribe asa" (no quotes) as the body of the message.