Samuel Wilberforce Critiques the ‘Unbounded Assumptions’ of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Intelligent Design the Future

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🗓️ 16 October 2024

⏱️ 35 minutes

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Summary

In June 1860, just seven months after Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, three men hotly debated the merits of Darwin's argument at a meeting of the British Association. Biologist Thomas Henry Huxley and botanist Joseph Hooker defended Darwin's theory. English bishop, speaker, and writer Samuel Wilberforce critiqued it. And though he was a man of the cloth, Wilberforce did not build a theological case against Darwin. Rather, he evaluated the argument for natural selection on scientific grounds, exposing its "loose statements and unfounded speculations" by weighing it "in the simple scales of logical examination." On this ID The Future, host Andrew McDiarmid treats you to excerpts from Wilberforce's powerful critique, published as a review a month after the debate in Quarterly Review. Source

Transcript

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0:00.0	I. D. the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.
0:10.0	Welcome to I. D. the Future. I'm your host Andrew McDermott. Today I'd like to read for you excerpts from a review of Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species by English Bishop, Speaker, and
0:26.5	writer Samuel Wilberforce.
0:28.6	Let me give you a little background on Samuel before we begin. Born in
0:33.6	London in 1805 he was the third son of William Wilberforce well known to
0:38.7	history as a leader of the movement in Britain to abolish the slave trade.
0:42.3	Samuel's father provided him with a movement in Britain to abolish the slave trade.
0:43.0	Samuel's father provided him with a private and domestic education
0:47.0	with the traditional teaching of the classics in a clerical home environment.
0:51.0	In 1823 Samuel entered Oxford and it's part of the
0:55.4	debating society there, graduating three years later with degrees and
0:59.4	mathematics and the classics. After marrying Emily Sergeant in 1828 he was ordained a
1:06.4	deacon in the Church of England, eventually rising to Bishop of Oxford, a position
1:11.6	he held for 24 years. In 1845 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
1:18.8	One of the things Samuel Wilberforce is remembered for today is his criticism of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.
1:26.2	In 1860, the same year as he published his lengthy review of Darwin's book,
1:31.4	he participated in a memorable debate over Darwin's theory at a meeting of the
1:36.0	British Association in June 1860. There he gave a speech critiquing Darwin's new arguments
1:42.1	published just seven months previously.
1:45.0	Also in attendance at the event and giving speeches was Darwin's bulldog, Thomas Henry
1:49.9	Huxley, as well as botanist Joseph Hooker.
1:53.8	Huxley as well as botanist Joseph Hooker. Huxley naturally defended Darwin's theory, and Hooker made the argument that Botany could be
	...

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