Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Development of Darwin’s Theory: From Natural Theology to Natural Selection

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Understanding Evolution in Darwin's "Origin"

Part of the book series: History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences ((HPTL,volume 34))

Abstract

It is often said that Darwin’s study of nature drove him to atheism. Whereas this might be, in principle, possible, it does not seem to have actually been the case for him. Both in his autobiography, which was not intended to be published, and in his personal correspondence, Darwin consistently described himself as an agnostic. It is true that he underwent several fluctuations of belief during his life, but in the end, he never explicitly rejected the existence of God. What is even more important is that the main shift he underwent during his life was conceptual, not emotional or religious. That was his shift from natural theology and a view of adaptation as perfect to natural selection and a view of adaptation as relative to the environment, something historian Dov Ospovat pointed out 40 years ago. In this chapter, I present the evidence from Darwin’s writings about his agnosticism and about his conceptual shift from the perfect adaptation of natural theology to the relative adaptation of natural selection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Barlow, N. (Ed.). (1958/2005). The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. W.W. Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowler, P. J. (1976). Malthus, Darwin and the concept of struggle. Journal of the History of Ideas, 37(4), 631–650.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brooke, J. (1985). The relations between Darwin’s science and his religion. In J. Durant (Ed.), Darwinism and divinity (pp. 40–75). Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brooke, J. H. (2009). Darwin and Victorian Christianity. In J. Hodge & G. Radick (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Darwin (pp. 197–218). Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Burkhardt, R. W. (1995). The Spirit of system: Lamarck and evolutionary biology. Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corsi, P. (2005). Before Darwin: Transformist concepts in European natural history. Journal of the History of Biology, 38, 67–83.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Darwin Correspondence Project. (n.d.-a). Letter no. 2285, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-2285.xml

  • Darwin Correspondence Project. (n.d.-b). Letter no. 2136, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-2136.xml

  • Darwin Correspondence Project. (n.d.-c). Letter no. 12041, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-12041.xml

  • Darwin, C. R. Notebook B: [Transmutation of species (1837–1838)]. CUL-DAR121.– Transcribed by Kees Rookmaaker. (Darwin Online, http://darwin-online.org.uk/).

  • Darwin, C. R. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. In J. van Wyhe (Ed.), The complete work of Charles Darwin online. John Murray. http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=1

    Google Scholar 

  • Desmond, A. (1984). Robert E. Grant: The social predicament of a pre-Darwinian transmutationist. Journal of the History of Biology, 17(2), 189–223.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, L. T. (1984). Darwin’s use of the analogy between artificial and natural selection. Journal of the History of Biology, 17(1), 113–140.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hodge, J., & Radick, G. (2009). Darwin’s theories in the intellectual long run. In J. Hodge & G. Radick (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Darwin (pp. 277–301). Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Hull, D. L. (2009). Darwin’s science and Victorian philosophy of science. In J. Hodge & G. Radick (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to Darwin (pp. 173–196). Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kampourakis, K. (2020). Understanding evolution. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Keynes, R. (2001). Darwin, his daughter and human evolution. Riverhead Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, D. (2009). Darwin’s keystone: The principle of divergence. In M. Ruse & R. J. Richards (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to the “origin of species” (pp. 87–108). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, D., Murrell, G., Parker, J., & Whitehorn, M. (2005). What Henslow taught Darwin. Nature, 436(7051), 643–645.

    Article  ADS  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, T. S. (1962/1996). The structure of scientific revolutions. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lennox, J. G. (2005). Darwin’s methodological evolution. Journal of the History of Biology, 38(1), 85–99.

    Article  MathSciNet  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lyell, C. (1832). Principles of geology. John Murray.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nersessian, N. J. (2008). Creating scientific concepts. MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ospovat, D. (1981). The development of Darwin’s theory: Natural history, natural theology and natural selection, 1838–1859. Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paley, W. (2006/1802). Natural theology or evidence of the existence and attributes of the deity, collected from the appearances of nature. Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roberts, M. (2001). Just before the beagle: Charles Darwin's geological fieldwork in Wales, summer 1831. Endeavour, 25(1), 33–37.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ruse, M. (1975a). Charles Darwin and artificial selection. Journal of the History of Ideas, 36(2), 339–350.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ruse, M. (1975b). Darwin's debt to philosophy: An examination of the influence of the philosophical ideas of John F.W. Herschel and William Whewell on the development of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, 6, 159–181.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ruse, M. (2000). Darwin and the philosophers: Epistemological factors in the development and reception of the origin of species. In R. Creath & J. Maienschein (Eds.), Biology and epistemology (pp. 3–26). Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schweber, S. S. (1980). Darwin and the political economists: Divergence of character. Journal of the History of Biology, 13(2), 195–289.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Secord, J. A. (2000). Victorian sensation: The extraordinary publication, reception, and secret authorship of vestiges on natural history of creation. The University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Spencer, N. (2009). Darwin and god. SPCK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stauffer, R. C. (Ed.). (1975). Charles Darwin's natural selection; being the second part of his big species book written from 1856 to 1858 (pp. 285–286). Cambridge University Press. Available at: http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F1583&viewtype=text&pageseq=1

    Google Scholar 

  • Sulloway, F. J. (1984). Darwin and the Galapagos. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 21(1–2), 29–59.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vorzimmer, P. (1969). Darwin, Malthus and the theory of natural selection. Journal of the History of Ideas, 30(4), 527–542.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vosniadou, S. (2013). International handbook of research on conceptual change. Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wiker, B. (2009). What were Darwin’s religious views? Discovery Institute. https://www.discovery.org/a/9501/

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Biology and IUFE, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland

    Kostas Kampourakis

Authors
  1. Kostas Kampourakis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kostas Kampourakis .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Maria Elice Brzezinski Prestes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kampourakis, K. (2023). The Development of Darwin’s Theory: From Natural Theology to Natural Selection. In: Elice Brzezinski Prestes, M. (eds) Understanding Evolution in Darwin's "Origin". History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences, vol 34. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40165-7_6

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-40165-7_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-40164-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-40165-7

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation