Evolution Seminar – Seminar 5

Question 1

“Modernisation”

Answer 1

Decline of religious world view

Question 2

William Paley

Answer 2

Cambridge – trained theologian

‘Natural Theology’ – study nature = find nature of God

Question 3

James Hutton

Answer 3

Geologist
Invested in industry, including Forth and Clyde Navigation (canal)
‘Theory of the Earth’ (1795)

Question 4

Charles Lyell

Answer 4

Trained as a lawyer, but devoted himself to geology
‘The Principles of Geology’ (1830-33) – being an attempt to explain a naturalistic argument to explain the former changes of the Earth’s surface, by reference to causes now in operation
Uniformitarianism

Question 5

Alfred Tennyson

Answer 5

British poet
‘In Memoriam’ (1851) – trying to make sense of death
Wastefulness of nature – destruction of nature
Sense of crisis around Christianity before Darwin

Question 6

The Vestiges of the National History of Creation (1844)

Answer 6

Anonymous at the time – big seller due to the speculation regarding the author
Vestiges appeared in cheap editions as a result of steam-reading
Idea of progress – including evolutionary ideas – suggested people could advance and develop

Question 7

Infant Morality

Answer 7

Death rate among Victorian was about 150 infant deaths per 1,000 live births

Question 8

Charles Darwin, Origin of Species

Answer 8

1859

On the Origin of Species by means of natural selection, or the presentation of favoured races in the struggle for life