What do you think of Darwin's 'horrid doubt'?

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   jcnasiaposted 14 years ago

   What do you think of Darwin's 'horrid doubt'?
   
   Darwin wrote in a letter, "With me, the horrid doubt always arises whether the convictions of man's minds, which has been developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any value or at all trustworthy."  In other words, Darwinian Evolution leads one to conclude that we can't consider our convictions trustworthy because our thinking is just the result of chance and time.  So how can anyone consider their convictions about Darwinian Evolution to be trustworthy or valuable?

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2. 61

   Merlin Fraserposted 14 years ago

   Isn't it time to consider that the various sciences have progressed a little in the last 150 years and that what may have been considered extremely radical theory back then is now proven fact.
   
   As  someone brought up under the  christian faith Darwin was troubled by many of the conclusion his original theories seemed to suggest.
   
   For the first time it called into serious question the Christian church's version of creation as described in Genesis.
   
   His original theories suggested that when it came to creation then it didn't actually require a God.
   
   
   150 years ago the church's hold over society was far greater than it is to day and such theories as these was hardly going to make him popular.
   
   Not until someone else arrived at the same conclusion about evolution and the origin of species  and was about to go into print on his findings did Darwin print his own.
   
   Today there is no mystery, Darwin was correct, modern Genetic and DNA science has proved it beyond a shadow of any doubt, save in the mind of the devout and deeply religious who simply cannot accept that the Biblical version based upon stories written thousands of years ago may actually be wrong.
   
   If Darwin were alive today with the scientific tools we have today he would not be in any doubt... horrid or otherwise.

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3. 66

   Anne Pettitposted 14 years ago

   Great answer Mr. Frasier!  I wanted to add that Darwin did not publish his book for 20 years after it was written because he felt the public was not ready for it.

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