Darwin’s Doubt

Last updated on: October 27, 2018 at 10:22 pm by Dan Peterson

Darwin’s Doubt 2018-10-27T22:22:07-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Charles Darwin, in 1881 (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)

Some notes from (as usual) an incomplete manuscript:

In Charles Darwin’s 1876 autobiography, he wrote:

Another source of conviction in the existence of God, connected with the reason, and not with the feeling, impresses me as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme difficulty or rather impossibility of conceiving this immense and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity of looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man; and I deserve to be called a Theist. This conclusion was strong in my mind about the time, as far as I can remember, when I wrote the “Origin of Species;” and it is since that time that it has very gradually, with many fluctuations, become weaker. But then arises the doubt, can the mind of man, which has, as I fully believe, been developed from a mind as low as that possessed by the lowest animals, be trusted when it draws such grand conclusions?[1]

Darwin spoke of his

inward conviction that the Universe is not the result of chance. But then with me the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man’s mind, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy. Would any one trust in the convictions of a monkey’s mind, if there are any convictions in such a mind? [2]

Once again, he remarked in a letter [to whom?] dated 28 August 1881,

if we consider the whole universe, the mind refuses to look at it as the outcome of chance—that is, without design or purpose. The whole question seems to me insoluble, for I cannot put much faith or any faith in the so-called intuitions of the human mind, which have been developed, as I cannot doubt, from such a mind as animals possess; and what would their convictions or intuitions be worth?[3]

But surely this is rather strange. If the human mind cannot be trusted when it reasons about the possibility of cosmic design or the existence of an intelligent first cause, on what grounds can it be trusted when it reasons about the origins of species or the descent of humankind? If the verdict of the mind regarding God must be mistrusted because of the mind’s biological origins, how can the mind be trusted to have identified those biological origins? Darwin’s doubts appear to be incoherent and self-contradictory.

[1] T. H. Huxley, ed., Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1898), 1:282. [Find original. Better source?]

[2] Huxley, Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, 1:285. [Find original. Better source?]

[3] More Letters of Charles Darwin (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1903), 1:395. [Find original. Better source?]

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 27, 2018

The "History of the Saints," in Ephraim, Utah

Next Post

October 27, 2018 What do the world's Muslims actually think?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What Christian group is known for meeting in silence without formal clergy?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Catholic Lutheran Presbyterian Quakers (Friends)