Did Charles Darwin intend to be controversial?

Question

Was he suprised that religious types were so offended by the theory of natural selection, or was that a fight he went looking for?

Answer 1

Okay, here we go, I teach this stuff, so let's have a little lesson. First off, the notion that the history of science is a war between science and religion is utterly false. There has historically been little conflict between the two. Name someone -- anyone -- from the Scientific Revolution other than Galileo who was persecuted because of their scientific (as opposed to religious) views. You can't. And the Galileo trial, as both sides knew at the time, was a mistake. As for Darwin he had no fear of persecution as the Church (or any church) lacked the institutional authority even if it had the inclination -- which it didn't. Darwin certainly knew that some people would be uncomfortable with his findings on theological grounds and he tries to deal with that in the Origin of Species. But most of all what he had to deal with was a particular concept know as Natural Theology, the notion that the plan of God is written in the book of Nature. All scientists of his day, never mind religious leaders, believed that and his theory was going and did cut the legs out from under it. So he had to make his case very, very carefully in a way that would gain it a serious hearing from those who, like Darwin himself for that matter, had been trained in the Natural Theology tradition.

Answer 2

Darwin put off publication of his theory of evolution for years until he was forced to publish after reading a paper by Wallace, who developed a theory of evolution almost identical to his own (the phrase survival of the fittest" was coined by Wallace).

A big part of his delay was the knowledge that it would create an uproar and he was constantly 'tweaking' his work to make it clearer, more convincing and, oddly enough, less offensive.

He hoped that he would have enough people one his side of the argument to avoid having to defend it himself publicly and ended up very relieved when Huxley, Darwin's bulldog, eagerly took over the public fight.

Incidentally Darwin was pretty much an atheist while his wife was very much a firm believer in the Bible. They got along fine but rarely talked about their different viewpoints.

Answer 3

yes he clearly knew that he would be in for a fight. After all there were other scientist before him who had proposed far less condemning stuff against the church like gallio and he was murdered by them. So to say Darwin didn't know how the church would react is absorb. Many scientist including gallio where questioned and prosecuted just for saying something against the story of creation and they where scientist who believed that religion and science could be combined together, so Yeah Darwin did know what was coming if he had ever studied science

Answer 4

He made an observation he felt was valid. I'm sure he didn't make the observation to piss people off. No, but he was driven to share the observation in the name of Science and defend it.

I'm sure he wasn't suprised. But I don't think he was looking for a fight.

Answer 5

He was not the type to be belligerent. He just wanted to present his findings and theory. He knew it would be controversial, but most new ideas are.
NO MATTER what his personality was like, you always judge an idea by itself, not from whom it originates.

Answer 6

he wasn't looking for a fight, he had a theory and he examined the theory in a scientific manner. He was certainly brave, but controversy was not his aim, better understanding of our origins was the result.