The Critical Rationalist Vol. 01 No. 04 ISSN: 1393-3809 31-Dec-1996
3 Darwin's Problem
1 Prologue
In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist, reflecting on the mutual affinities of organic beings, on their embryological relations, their geographical distribution, geological succession, and other such facts, might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species...
(6) Here, right at the start of The Origin Darwin concisely introduced, and immediately solved (or, at least, proposed a solution to) a difficult biological problem--namely, why does the biological world exhibit such hierarchical patterns of similarity, and geological sequence, between distinct species of organisms? There is, of course, an historical context to this problem: the assumption that species are immutable. Given this assumption, then these many relations of similarity, at multiple hierarchical levels of classification, seem arbitrary and thus problematic. Conversely, if immutability is discarded, then the problem situation is crucially changed, and we can conjecture that most, or perhaps even all, organisms are bound by relationships of common descent--and this very easily and naturally explains the hierarchical pattern of similarity.
(7) It is worth emphasizing that Darwin did not originate either this problem or its solution--and nor did he claim to. As Burrow put it, in his editor's introduction to a modern reprinting of The Origin:
The theory of evolution [i.e. of common descent] was already an old, even a discredited one. Darwin, in later editions of The Origin, listed over thirty predecessors and was still accused of lack of generosity.
(8) The theory of common descent can, of course, be challenged. For example, its most ardent critics are the proponents of "scientific creationism". However, for the purposes of this particular article, I am going to (tentatively) adopt the theory of common descent as true. I make this point explicitly at the outset, so that it will clear in what follows that the problem I am dealing with is not the problem of hierarchical biological similarity, and should not be confused with it.
3 Darwin's Problem
1 Prologue
The Critical Rationalist Vol. 01 No. 04 ISSN: 1393-3809 31-Dec-1996
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TCR Issue Timestamp: Tue Dec 31 17:37:08 GMT 1996