APPENDIX 



DARWIN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD 



No small interest attaches to the religious opinions of a man 

 who influenced our thoughts about the world so much as the late 

 Charles Darwin did. His biography, written by his son Francis 

 Darwin, contains a chapter on Religion, in which some valuable 

 details are communicated. 1 I do not think that more ought to be 

 desired or expected from a man of Darwin's stamp than the sus- 

 pended judgment which concludes his trenchant and yet cautious 

 utterances upon the subject of theology. * The safest conclusion 

 seems to me that the whole subject is 'beyond the scope of man's 

 intellect ; but man can do his duty.' 2 Having arrived at the 

 opinion that ontology is hardly a fit topic for the human reason, 

 Darwin states his own attitude in the following modest phrases : 3 



What my own views may be is a question of no consequence to any 

 one but myself . But as you ask, I may state that my judgment often 

 fluctuates. ... In my most extreme fluctuations I have never been an 

 Atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God. I think that 

 generally (and more and more as I grow older), but not always, that an 

 Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind. 



It is clear from this quotation that Darwin did not accept 

 Atheist and Agnostic as convertible terms. If we collect the sense 

 of all his dicta upon the relation of the world to a Divine Being, 

 we shall perceive that he regarded a God as the most reasonable 

 hypothesis, but that many things in the order of the universe, ' the 

 increased amount of suffering through the world,' 4 for instance, 

 were obstacles to his maintenance of this hypothesis in full faith. 

 What he meant by Agnosticism appears to have been an indecision 



1 Vol. i. cap. viii. 2 P. 307. 3 P. 304. 4 P. 307. 



