2 DARWINISM AND PHILOSOPHY 



originating and passing away, the &quot; Origin of 

 Species &quot; introduced a mode of thinking that in 

 the end was bound to transform the logic of 

 knowledge, and hence the treatment of morals, 

 politics, and religion. 



No wonder, then, that the publication of Dar 

 win s book, a half century ago, precipitated a crisis. 

 The true nature of the controversy is easily con 

 cealed from us, however, by the theological clamor 

 that attended it. The vivid and popular features 

 of the anti-Darwinian row tended to leave the im 

 pression that the issue was between science on one 

 side and theology on the other. Such was not the 

 case the issue lay primarily within science itself, 

 as Darwin himself early recognized. The theolog 

 ical outcry he discounted from the start, hardly 

 noticing it save as it bore upon the &quot; feelings of 

 his female relatives.&quot; But for two decades before 

 final publication he contemplated the possibility 

 of being put down by his scientific peers as a fool 

 or as crazy; and he set, as the measure of his 

 success, the degree in which he should affect three 

 men of science : Lyell in geology, Hooker in botany, 

 and Huxley in zoology. 



Religious considerations lent fervor to the con 

 troversy, but they did not provoke it. Intellectu 

 ally, religious emotions are not creative but con 

 servative. They attach themselves readily to the 

 current view of the world and consecrate it. They 



