Darwinian revolution: Rethinking its meaning and significance

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 106; no. Supplement 1; pp. 10040 - 10047
• Main Author: Ruse, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States National Academy of Sciences 16.06.2009; National Acad Sciences
• Series: Colloquium Papers
• Subjects: Animals; Biological Evolution; Biology; Biology - history; Colloquium Papers; Darwin, Charles (1809-1882); Darwinism; Evolution; Evolution & development; Evolutionary biology; Evolutionary genetics; Evolutionism; History, 18th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Humans; Metaphysics; Natural selection; Political revolutions
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0901011106

The Darwinian revolution is generally taken to be one of the key events in the history of Western science. In recent years, however, the very notion of a scientific revolution has come under attack, and in the specific case of Charles Darwin and his Origin of Species there are serious questions about the nature of the change (if there was such) and the specifically Darwinian input. This article considers these issues by addressing these questions: Was there a Darwinian revolution? That is, was there a revolution at all? Was there a Darwinian revolution? That is, what was the specific contribution of Charles Darwin? Was there a Darwinian revolution? That is, what was the conceptual nature of what occurred on and around the publication of the Origin? I argue that there was a major change, both scientifically and in a broader metaphysical sense; that Charles Darwin was the major player in the change, although one must qualify the nature and the extent of the change, looking particularly at things in a broader historical context than just as an immediate event; and that the revolution was complex and we need the insights of rather different philosophies of scientific change to capture the whole phenomenon. In some respects, indeed, the process of analysis is still ongoing and unresolved.