The Darwinian controversy of the nineteenth century Essay

The Darwinian controversy of the nineteenth century - Essay Example The transmutation of species was accepted by many scientists before 1859, but the publication of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection provided the first cogent theory for a mechanism by which evolutionary change could occur: natural selection. (Mayr, 2002) Darwins theory nearly shattered the traditional Christian notion that humanity, poised between beast and angel, was literally formed in Gods image. Darwin pointed out, long before we knew that we share 98.5 percent of our genetic material with chimpanzees, that what looks back at us in the mirror is not the face of God but is kin to the earthbound apes. As the Edinburgh Review warned at the time, "a revolution in thought is imminent, which will shake society to its very foundations by destroying the sanctity of the conscience and the religious sense." (Zimmer, 2002) All the statements of Darwinian Theory were in strong contradiction with the religious views. Darwin was sure that life on Earth is directly connected with the fight for living. In addition the strongest survives and the weakest loses their right for living. According to Darwin’s theory there is always a great resistance and contradiction in nature. More over Darwin supposed that this theory reflected the life of humans also. This, of course, was totally opposite to religious views, where everything should exist in harmony with each other. Religion considers that life is given to everyone and we should co-exist in the world peacefully. It is interesting that Indian anthropologist Lalita Vidyardi, who devoted many years of her life to the learning of Darwinism, states that Darwinian theory of evolution, caused the ideas of racism in social sciences. She said that many scientists believed that the civilization and progress in the world were achieved thanks to the white race and in the second part of the XIX-the century the phenomenon of racism was accepted as a fact by a greatest part of