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FORUM Intelligent

The consequences of Charles ’s “one long argument” by Edward O. Wilson

Pellegrino university professor emeritus Edward O. We must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with Wilson, a scholarly giant of and , re- all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the mains at heart a teacher. His latest lesson concerns the continu- most debased, with benevolence which extends not only ing consequences of Charles Darwin’s “timeless and consistently to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his inspirational” . At a moment when discussion of evolution god-like intellect which has penetrated into the move- and “” preoccupies American political discourse ments and constitution of the solar system—with all to a surprising degree, shedding more heat than light on the na- these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame ture of and life science, Wilson invites the serious public to the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. do what far too few of us have done: to read what Darwin wrote. � Charles Darwin In November, W.W. Norton & Company will publish From So The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871) Simple a Beginning: The Four of Charles Darwin. For this sin- gle, enormous volume, Wilson has selected the versions of, and Great scientific discoveries are like sunrises. They illumi- written introductions to, each of the iconic texts: The Voyage of the nate first the steeples of the unknown, then its dark hollows. Beagle (“intellectually the most important travel book Such expansive influence has been enjoyed by the of all time”); the first edition of On of Crabo cribrarius scientific writings of Charles Darwin. For over 150 (“the greatest scientific book of all time”); The Descent years his books, the four most influential of which of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (the further step are reprinted here for the first time as a bound that “Darwin had to take…from the premise that evo- set, have spread light on the living world and lution is universal”); and The Expression of the in the condition. They have not lost their Man and Animals (“both an old-fashioned descriptive trea- freshness: more than any other work in history’s sci- tise and the most modern of Darwin’s major works,” which entific canon, they are both timeless and persistently in- “could serve as a guidebook for novelists”—and “as part of spirational. the foundation of modern psychology”). The four classics, flowing along one to the next like a Wilson has also written a general introduction, placing well-wrought narrative, trace the development of Darwin’s Darwin at the very center of the revolution in modern life thought across almost all of his adult life. The first, Voyage of science and understanding, and an afterword, on the Beagle (1845), one of literature’s great travel the “noble yet troubling legacy” that unfolds today books, is richly stocked with observations in nat- in the collision between religious faith and sci- ural history of the kind that were to guide the entific humanism. In those essays, reprinted here, young Darwin toward his evolutionary worldview. Wilson draws on his lifelong immersion in the scientific Next comes the “one long argument,” as he later put it, enterprise and his study of the foundational Darwinian of (1859), arguably history’s most texts to present his view surrounding these “great unan- influential book. In it the now middle-aged Darwin massively swered questions of philosophy.” �The Editors documents the evidences of organic evolution and introduces

Published with permission. From So Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Charles Darwin, edited, with introductions, Harvard Magazine 29 by Edward O. Wilson, will be published in November 2005 by W.W. Norton & Company. Copyright © 2006 by Edward O. Wilson. Forum-final 10/11/05 4:41 PM Page 30

the theory of . The Descent of Man tionary would reconstruct its (1871) then addresses the burning topic foretold in origin and history—how it came to be On the Origin of Species: “Light will be thrown on the made and its journey thus far. origin of man and his history.” Finally, The Expression The impact of the theory of evolution by of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) draws close to natural selection, nowadays grown very sophis- the heart of the matter that concerns us all: the origin ticated (and often referred to as the Modern Syn- and of mind, the “citadel” that Darwin thesis), has been profound. To the extent it can be could see but knew that science at the time could upheld, and the evidence to date has done so com- not conquer. pellingly, we must conclude that life has di- The adventure that Darwin launched on all versified on Earth autonomously without any our behalf, and which continues into the kind of external guidance. Evolution in a pure twenty-first century, is driven by a decep- Darwinian world has no goal or purpose: the tively simple idea, of which Darwin’s friend exclusive driving force is random and staunch supporter Thomas Henry Hux- sorted out by natural selection from one gen- ley said, and spoke for many to follow, “How eration to the next. extremely stupid of me not to have thought of What then are we to make of the purposes and that!” Evolution by natural selection is perhaps the goals obviously chosen by human beings? They are, only one true law unique to biological systems, as in Darwinian interpretation, processes evolved as opposed to nonliving physical systems, and in re- adaptive devices by an otherwise purposeless nat- cent decades it has taken on the solidity of a mathe- ural selection. Evolution by natural selection means, matical theorem. It states simply that if a population finally, that the essential qualities of the human of organisms contains multiple hereditary variants in mind also evolved autonomously. Humanity was some trait (say, red versus blue eyes in a bird popula- thus born of Earth. However elevated in power tion), and if one of these variants succeeds in con- over the rest of life, however exalted in self-image, tributing more o≠spring to the next generation than we were descended from animals by the same blind the other variants, the force that created those overall composition of animals, and we remain a the population changes, All biological processes are ultimately member species of this and evolution has occurred. obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, planet’s . Further, if new genetic The revolution in as- variants appear regularly and arose through evolution of these tronomy begun by Nico- in the population (by mu- laus Copernicus in 1543 tation or immigration), physicochemical systems through natural selection. proved that Earth is not evolution never ends. Think the center of the universe, of red-eyed and blue-eyed birds in a breeding nor even the center of the solar system. The revolu- population, and let the red-eyed birds be better tion begun by Darwin was even more humbling: it adapted to the environment. The population will showed that humanity is not the center of cre- in time come to consist mostly or entirely of red-eyed ation, and not its purpose either. But in freeing our birds. Now let green-eyed mutants appear that are minds from our imagined demigod bondage, even at even better adapted to the environment than the red- the price of humility, Darwin turned our attention to eyed form. As a consequence the species eventually be- the astounding power of the natural creative process comes green-eyed. Evolution has thus taken two and the magnificence of its products: more small steps. Top: Tragelaphus strepsiceros. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its The full importance of Darwin’s theory can be bet- Bottom: Sitana minor (male with several powers, having been originally breathed ter understood by realizing that modern biology is the gular pouch expanded). into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this guided by two overwhelmingly powerful and creative ideas. The planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of first is that all biological processes are ultimately obedient to, gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beau- even though far from fully explained by, the laws of physics and tiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. chemistry. The second is that all biological processes arose Darwin, On the Origin of Species through evolution of these physicochemical systems through nat- (first edition, 1859) ural selection. The first principle is concerned with the how of bi- ology. The second is concerned with the ways the systems � adapted to the environment over periods of time long enough for If I lived twenty more years and was able to work, how I evolution to occur—in other words the why of biology. should have to modify the Origin, and how much the Knowledge addressing the first principle is called functional views on all points will have to be modified! Well, it is biology; that addressing the second is called . a beginning, and that is something. If a moving automobile were an organism, functional biology � Charles Darwin would explain how it is constructed and operates, while evolu- Letter to J.D. Hooker, 1869

30 November - December 2005 All drawings from The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, by Charles Darwin, in two volumes (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1871) unless otherwise noted. Scans of drawings courtesy of Kathleen Horton Forum-final 10/11/05 4:41 PM Page 31

Darwin lived thirteen more years after writing this letter to changes in the fossil record. Further, on the basis of comparably Joseph Hooker, and he did manage to modify the theory of evolu- firm evidence, natural selection grows ever stronger as the pre- tion by natural selection, expanding it in The Descent of Man (1871) to vailing explanation of evolution. include human origins and in The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Many who accept the fact of evolution cannot, however, on re- Animals (1872) to address the evolution of . The ensuing 130 ligious grounds, accept the operation of blind chance and the ab- years have seen an enormous growth of the Darwinian heritage. sence of divine purpose implicit in natural selection. They sup- Joined with molecular and cellular biology, that accumulated port the alternative explanation of intelligent design. The knowledge is today a large part of modern biology. Its centrality reasoning they o≠er is not based on evidence but on the lack of justifies the famous remark made by the evolutionary geneticist it. The formulation of intelligent design is a default argument ad- in 1973 that “nothing in biology makes vanced in support of a non sequitur. It is in essence the follow- sense except in the light of evolu- ing: There are some phenomena tion.” In fact, nothing in science that have not yet been ex- as a whole has been more firmly plained and that (and most im- established by interwoven fac- portantly) the critics personally tual documentation, or more illu- cannot imagine being ex- minating, than the universal oc- plained; therefore there must be currence of biological evolution. a supernatural designer at Further, few natural processes work. The designer is seldom have been more convincingly ex- specified, but in the canon of in- plained than evolution by the telligent design it is most cer- theory of natural selection or, as tainly not Satan and his angels, it is popularly called, . nor any god or gods conspicu- Thus it is surpassingly strange ously di≠erent from those ac- that half of Americans recently cepted in the believer’s faith. polled (2004) not only do not be- Flipping the scientific argu- lieve in evolution by natural se- ment upside down, the intelli- lection but do not believe in evo- gent designers join the strict lution at all. Americans are creationists (who insist that no certainly capable of belief, and evolution ever occurred in the with rocklike conviction if it first place) by arguing that sci- originates in religious dogma. In entists resist the supernatural evidence is the 60 percent that theory because it is counter to accept the prophecies of the their own personal secular be- Book of Revelation as truth, and liefs. This may have a kernel of yet in more evidence is the truth; everybody su≠ers from weight that faith-based posi- some amount of bias. But in this tions hold in political life. Most case bias is easily overcome. The of the religious Right opposes critics forget how the reward the teaching of evolution in pub- system in science works. Any re- lic schools, either by an outright searcher who can prove the ex- ban on the subject or, at the istence of intelligent design least, by insisting that it be within the accepted framework treated as “only of science will make his- a theory” rather tory and achieve than a “fact.” eternal fame. He Yet , will prove at last particularly those that science and reli- statured by the peer gious dogma are com- review and publica- patible! Even a com- tion of substantial bined Nobel Prize personal research on and Templeton Prize the subject in leading journals of science, are unani- Top: Cercopithecus petaurista. (the latter designed to encourage search for just such mous in concluding that evolution is a fact. The evi- Bottom, from left to right: harmony) would fall short as proper recognition. dence they and thousands of others have adduced Semnopithecus comatus, Cebus Every scientist would like to accomplish such an over 150 years falls together in intricate and inter- capucinus, Ateles marginatus, epoch-making advance. But no one has even come and Cebus vellerosus. locking detail. The multitudinous examples range close, because unfortunately there is no evidence, from the small changes in DNA sequences observed as they occur no theory, and no criteria for proof that even marginally might in real time to finely graded sequences within larger evolutionary pass for science. There is only the residue of hoped-for default,

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which steadily shrinks as the science of biology expands. sequence the mind originates almost wholly as a result of In all of the only one other disparity of , and it is the product of a culture that itself evolves by comparable magnitude to evolution has occurred be- historical contingency. Because there is no biologically based tween a scientific event and the impact it has had on “,” people can be molded to the best possible the public mind. This was the discovery by Coper- political and economic system, namely, nicus that Earth and therefore hu- as urged upon the world manity are not the center of the through most of the twen- universe, and the universe is tieth century, communism. not a closed spherical bubble. In practical politics, this Copernicus delayed publication belief has been repeatedly of his masterwork On the Revolutions of the tested and, after economic Heavenly Spheres until the year of his (1543). collapses and tens of millions of For his extension of the idea subse- in a dozen dysfunctional quently, Bruno was burned at the states, is generally deemed a stake, and for its documentation failure. Galileo was shown the instru- Both of these worldviews, ments of torture at Rome and God-centered religion and remained under house arrest atheistic communism, are for the remainder of his life. The hereditary responses and opposed by a third and in Today we live in a less some ways more radical barbaric age, but an other- propensities that de ne our species arose by worldview, scientific hu- wise comparable disjunction manism. Still held by only a between science and reli- evolution, forming the behavioral part of tiny minority of the world’s gion, the one born of Dar- population, it considers hu- winism, still roils the public what Darwin called the indelible stamp manity to be a biological mind. Why does such in- of our lowly origin. species that evolved over tense and pervasive resis- millions of years in a biologi- tance to evolution continue cal world, acquiring un- 150 years after the publica- precedented intelligence yet still tion of The Origin of Species, and guided by complex inherited in the teeth of the overwhelm- emotions and biased channels ing accumulated evidence favor- of learning. Human nature ing it? The answer is simply that exists, and it was the Darwinian revolution, even more self-assembled. It than the Copernican revo- is the commonal- lution, challenges the ity of the hereditary prehistoric and still- responses and regnant self-image propensities of humanity. Evo- that define lution by natur- our species. al selection, to Having aris- be as concise en by evolu- as possible, has tion during the changed everything. far simpler conditions in which hu- In the more than slightly schizophrenic circum- Top: Callionymus lyra (upper manity lived during more than 99 percent of its stances of the present era, global culture is divided figure, male; lower figure, female). existence, it forms the behavioral part of what, in into three opposing images of the , Bottom: Dog “in a humble and The Descent of Man, Darwin called the indelible a≠ectionate frame of mind.” each logically consistent within its own, indepen- stamp of our lowly origin. dent premises. The dominant of these hypotheses, exemplified To understand biological human nature in depth is to drain by the creation myths of the Abrahamic monotheistic religions the fever swamps of religious and blank-slate dogma. But it also (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), sees humanity as a creation of imposes the heavy burden of individual choice that goes with God. He brought us into being and He guides us still as father, intellectual freedom. judge, and friend. We interpret his will from sacred scriptures Such was the long journey for Darwin, the architect of the nat- and the wisdom of ecclesiastical authorities. uralistic worldview. He began his voyage on the Beagle as a devout The second worldview is that of political behaviorism. Still Christian who trained for the ministry. “Whilst on board the Bea- beloved by the now rapidly fading Marxist-Leninist states, it gle I was quite orthodox,” he wrote much later in his autobiogra- says that the brain is largely a blank state devoid of any inborn phy, “and I remember being heartily laughed at by several of the inscription beyond reflexes and primitive bodily urges. As a con- o∞cers (though themselves orthodox) for quoting the Bible as an

32 November - December 2005 Drawing of dog from The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, by Charles Darwin (London: John Murray, 1872) Forum-final 10/11/05 4:41 PM Page 33

unanswerable authority on some point of .” His later drift prochement is both possible and desirable. A few disagree, and I from the religion of his birth was stepwise and slow. Still on am one of them. I think Darwin would have held to the same posi- H.M.S. Beagle during its circumnavigation of the globe (1831–1836) tion. The battle line is, as it has ever been, in biology. The inex- he came to believe that the “false history” and reports of God’s orable growth of this science continues to widen, not to close, the vengeful feelings made the Old Testament “no more to tectonic gap between science and faith-based religion. be trusted than the sacred books of the Hin- Rapprochement may be neither possible nor desirable. doos, or the beliefs of any barbarian.” The There is something deep in religious belief that of Jesus seemed to him to suggest divides people and amplifies societal conflict. In that people living at the time of the Gospels the early part of this century, the toxic mix of re- were “ignorant and credulous to a degree al- ligion and tribalism has become so dangerous as most incomprehensible by us.” The growth of dis- to justify taking seriously the alternative view, that belief was so slow that Darwin felt no distress. humanism based on science is the e≠ective antidote, the In a striking passage of his autobiography he ex- light and the way at last placed before us. pressed his final and complete rejection of Christ- In any case, the dilemma to be solved is truly profound. ian dogma based solely on blind faith: On the one side the input of religion on has I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to been beneficent in many ways. It has generated much of wish Christianity to be true; for if so the plain which is best in culture, including the ideals of and of the text seems to show that the public service. From the beginning of history it has in- men who do not believe, and this would in- spired the arts. Creation myths were in a sense the begin- clude my Father, Brother and almost all my ning of science itself. Fabricating them was the best the best friends, will be everlastingly punished. early scribes could do to explain the universe and And that is a damnable doctrine. human existence. Did Charles Darwin recant in his last days, as some Yet the high risk is the ease with which alliances be- religious critics have hopefully suggested? There is tween religions and tribalism are made. Then comes bigotry not a shred of evidence and the dehumaniza- that he did or that he tion of infidels. Our was presented with any gods, the true believer to do so. Further, asserts, stand against it would have been your false idols, our wholly contrary to the spiritual purity against deliberate, careful man- your corruption, our ner with which he ap- divinely sanctioned proached every subject. knowledge against your The great naturalist errancy. In past ages the did not abandon Abra- posture provided an ad- hamic and other reli- vantage. It united each gious dogmas because of tribe during life-and- his discovery of evolu- death struggles with tion by natural selec- other tribes. It buoyed tion, as one might rea- the devotees with a sonably suppose. The sense of superiority. It reverse occurred. The sacralized tribal laws shedding of blind faith and mores, and encour- gave him the intellectual aged altruistic behav- fearlessness to explore iors. Through sacred wher- rites it lent solemnity to ever logic and evidence the passages of life. And took him. And so he set it comforted the anx- forth boldly, in The De- ious and a±icted. For scent of Man to track the all this and more it gave origin of humanity, and in The Expression of the Emo- Top: Pneumora. people an identity and purpose, and vouchsafed tions in Man and Animals to address the evolution of Bottom: Rhynchaea capensis. tribal fitness—yet, unfortunately, at the expense of instinct. Thus was born scientific humanism, the only world- less united or otherwise less fortunate tribes. view compatible with science’s growing knowledge of the real Religions continue both to render their special services and to world and the laws of nature. exact their heavy costs. Can scientific humanism do as well or So, will science and religion find common ground, or at least better, at a lower cost? Surely that ranks as one of the great unan- agree to divide the fundamentals into mutually exclusive do- swered questions of philosophy. It is the noble yet troubling mains? A great many well-meaning scholars believe that such rap- legacy that Charles Darwin left us.

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