Oh you Materialist! » : oser publier On the Origin of Species

• Published in: Etudes anglaises Vol. 67; no. 2; p. 148
• Main Author: Yvard, Jean-Michel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: Paris Éditions Klincksieck 01.04.2014
• Subjects: Agnosticism; Darwin, Charles (1809-1882); Evolution; Scientists; Spirituality
• ISSN: 0014-195X; 1965-0159

In the late 1830s, Darwin had already conceptualized the general outlines of the mechanism of natural selection, a pillar of his theory of evolution. Yet, he only published On the Origin of Species twenty years later, when the young naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, who had developed similar ideas, was going to be the first to claim the discovery of the mechanism of natural selection. The reason why Darwin took so long to publish his views on evolution has spilled a lot of in among historians, biographers and commentators. The most common explanations mention Darwin's fear of the possible reactions of the society of his time, whether those of his fellow scientists, of the religious authorities of the moment or, more precisely, of his wife who was more pious and more attached to traditional forms of spirituality. Was Darwin afraid of the materialistic implications of his own theory and did such fears continue to haunt him later, leading him to a more moderate form of agnosticism rather than to more militant, conspicuous forms of atheism, such accusations having often been addressed to the agnostics at the time? Or more prosaically did Darwin prefer to write other books in order to exploit the data collected during his journey on the Beagle? Was he afraid, in the same way as Galileo, of being persecuted by his opponents, or was he mainly concerned about carrying out other tasks that he had at heart?