On the Reception of Darwin in Austria 3 views

The story of Charles Darwin's ideas may be history's version of the game, "Pass it down the line." In that game it is always amusing and puzzling to consider what information was added to or lost from the original sentence, at what stages information was altered, and what deficiencies in hearing, speaking or comprehension caused the transformations. So it is with Darwin, for his thoughts followed one of the most convoluted, circuitous, yet instructive paths in the history of ideas. But the course of his ideas is not always amusing, for here we are not dealing with childhood games but with more serious questions of the nature of the human animal and its place in the world. Darwin did not invent the idea of evolution, but his theoretical work addressed many of the problems of his time and continued to direct thought well after his death in 1882.

MA (Master of Arts)

Darwin, Charles -- 1809-1882 -- Influence; Vienna (Austria) -- Intellectual life

English

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1990-08-01