What is Darwinism?, by Charles Hodge doc

Importance of the Question Different Theories as to the Origin of theUniverse, and specially of Vegetable andAnimal Organisms.. Natural SelectionSense in which Darwin uses the WordNatura

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Title: What is Darwinism?

Author: Charles Hodge

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Language: English

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WHAT IS

DARWINISM?

BY

CHARLES HODGE, PRINCETON, N J.

NEW YORK:

SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG,

AND COMPANY.

1874.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in

the year 1874, byScribner, Armstrong, & Company,

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress,

at Washington

RIVERSIDE, CAMBRIDGE:

STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY

H O HOUGHTON AND COMPANY

Importance of the Question

Different Theories as to the Origin of theUniverse, and specially of Vegetable andAnimal Organisms

1 The Scriptural Theory

2 The Pantheistic Theory

3 The Epicurean Theory

4 The Doctrine of Herbert Spencer

5 Hylozoic Theory

6 Unscriptural Forms of Theism

Darwin's Theory

Natural Selection

Sense in which Darwin uses the WordNatural

The Three Elements or Darwinism

The Exclusion of Design in Nature theFormative Idea of Darwin's Theory

Proof of Darwin's Denial of Teleology,from his own Writings

Proof from the Expositions of his Theory

by its avowed Advocates

Mr Russell Wallace

Professor Huxley

Dr Büchner

Carl Vogt

The Evolution Theory contrary to Factsand to Scripture

Sir William Thomson on Teleology

Dr Asa Gray

Darwinism tantamount to AtheismAdvertisements

WHAT IS DARWINISM?

This is a question which needs an answer.Great confusion and diversity of opinionprevail as to the real views of the manwhose writings have agitated the wholeworld, scientific and religious If a mansays he is a Darwinian, many understandhim to avow himself virtually an atheist;while another understands him as sayingthat he adopts some harmless form of thedoctrine of evolution This is a great evil

It is obviously useless to discuss anytheory until we are agreed as to what that

theory is The question, therefore, What isDarwinism? must take precedence of alldiscussion of its merits.

The great fact of experience is that theuniverse exists The great problem whichhas ever pressed upon the human mind is

to account for its existence What was itsorigin? To what causes are the changes

we witness around us to be referred? As

we are a part of the universe, thesequestions concern ourselves What are theorigin, nature, and destiny of man?Professor Huxley is right in saying, "Thequestion of questions for mankind—theproblem which underlies all others, and ismore interesting than any other—is theascertainment of the place which Manoccupies in nature and of his relation to

the universe of things Whence our racehas come, what are the limits of ourpower over nature, and of nature's powerover us, to what goal are we tending, arethe problems which present themselvesanew and with undiminished interest toevery man born into the world."[1] Mr.Darwin undertakes to answer thesequestions He proposes a solution of theproblem which thus deeply concernsevery living man Darwinism is, therefore,

a theory of the universe, at least so far asthe living organisms on this earth areconcerned This being the case, it may bewell to state, in few words, the otherprevalent theories on this great subject,that the points of agreement and ofdifference between them and the views of

Mr Darwin may be the more clearly seen

The Scriptural Solution

of the Problem of the

Universe .

That solution is stated in words equallysimple and sublime: "In the beginning Godcreated the heavens and the earth." Wehave here, first, the idea of God Theword God has in the Bible a definitemeaning It does not stand for anabstraction, for mere force, for law orordered sequence God is a spirit, and as

we are spirits, we know fromconsciousness that God is, (1.) ASubstance; (2.) That He is a person; and,

therefore, a self-conscious, intelligent,voluntary agent He can say I; we canaddress Him as Thou; we can speak ofHim as He or Him This idea of Godpervades the Scriptures It lies at thefoundation of natural religion It isinvolved in our religious consciousness Itenters essentially into our sense of moralobligation It is inscribed ineffaceably, inletters more or less legible, on the heart ofevery human being The man who is trying

to be an atheist is trying to free himselffrom the laws of his being He might aswell try to free himself from liability tohunger or thirst

The God of the Bible, then, is a Spirit,infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in hisbeing, wisdom, power, holiness,

goodness, and truth As every theory mustbegin with some postulate, this is thegrand postulate with which the Biblebegins This is the first point.

The second point concerns the origin ofthe universe It is not eternal either as tomatter or form It is not independent ofGod It is not an evolution of his being, orhis existence form He is extramundane aswell as antemundane The universe owesits existence to his will

Thirdly, as to the nature of the universe; it

is not a mere phenomenon It is an entity,having real objective existence, oractuality This implies that matter is asubstance endowed with certainproperties, in virtue of which it is capable

of acting and of being acted upon These

properties being uniform and constant, arephysical laws to which, as their proximatecauses, all the phenomena of nature are to

be referred

Fourthly, although God is extramundane,

He is nevertheless everywhere present.That presence is not only a presence ofessence, but also of knowledge andpower He upholds all things He controlsall physical causes, working through them,with them, and without them, as He seesfit As we, in our limited spheres, can usephysical causes to accomplish ourpurposes, so God everywhere and alwayscoöperates with them to accomplish hisinfinitely wise and merciful designs

Fifthly, man a part of the universe, is,according to the Scriptures, as concerns

his body, of the earth So far, he belongs

to the animal kingdom As to his soul, he

is a child of God, who is declared to bethe Father of the spirits of all men God is

a spirit, and we are spirits We are,therefore, of the same nature with God

We are God-like; so that in knowingourselves we know God No manconscious of his manhood can be ignorant

of his relationship to God as his Father.The truth of this theory of the universerests, in the first place, so far as it hasbeen correctly stated, on the infallibleauthority of the Word of God In thesecond place, it is a satisfactory solution

of the problem to be solved,—(1.) Itaccounts for the origin of the universe (2.)

It accounts for all the universe contains,

and gives a satisfactory explanation of themarvellous contrivances which abound inliving organisms, of the adaptations ofthese organisms to conditions external tothemselves, and for those provisions forthe future, which on any other assumptionare utterly inexplicable (3.) It is inconflict with no truth of reason and with

no fact of experience.[2] (4.) TheScriptural doctrine accounts for thespiritual nature of man, and meets all hisspiritual necessities It gives him an object

of adoration, love, and confidence Itreveals the Being on whom hisindestructible sense of responsibilityterminates The truth of this doctrine,therefore, rests not only on the authority ofthe Scriptures, but on the very constitution

of our nature The Bible has little charity

for those who reject it It pronounces them

to be either derationalized ordemoralized, or both

evidences of the great plan of structurewhich can be traced in the different orders

of animals These unused organs were—says Professor Joseph Le Conte, in hisinteresting volume on Religion andScience, New York, 1874, p 54—regarded as blunders in nature, until it wasdiscovered that use is not the only end ofdesign "By further patient study ofnature," he says, "came the recognition ofanother law beside use,—a law of orderunderlying and conditioning the law ofuse Organisms are, indeed, contrived foruse, but according to a preordained plan

of structure, which must not be violated."

It is of little moment whether thisexplanation be considered satisfactory ornot It would certainly be irrational torefuse to believe that the eye was made

for the purpose of vision, because wecannot tell why a man has mammæ A manmight as well refuse to admit that there isany meaning in all the writings of Plato,because there is a sentence in them which

he cannot understand

The Pantheistic Theory .

This has been one of the most widelydiffused and persistent forms of humanthought on this whole subject It has beenfor thousands of years not only thephilosophy, but the religion of India, and,

to a great extent, of China It underlies allthe forms of Greek philosophy It creptinto the Church, concealed under thedisguise of Scriptural terminology, in theform of Neo-Platonism It was constantlyreappearing during the Middle Ages,sometimes in a philosophical, andsometimes a mystical form It was revived

by Spinoza in the seventeenth century, andsubsequently became dominant in the

philosophy and literature of Europe It iscoming up again Some distinguishednaturalists are swinging round from onepole to the opposite; from saying there is

no God, to teaching that everything is God.Sometimes, one and the same book in onehalf teaches materialism, in the other halfidealism: the one affirming that everything

is matter, the other that matter is nothing,but that everything is mind, and mind isGod

The leading principles of the Pantheistictheory are,—(1.) That there is an Infiniteand Absolute Being Of this Being nothingcan be affirmed but actuality It is deniedthat it is conscious, intelligent, orvoluntary (2.) It is subject to the blindnecessity of self-evolution or

development (3.) This development beingnecessary is constant; from everlasting toeverlasting According to the Braminicaldoctrine, indeed, there are successivecycles of activity and repose, each cyclebeing measured by countless milliards ofcenturies According to the moderns, self-evolution being necessary, there can be norepose, so that Ohne Welt kein Gott (4.)The Finite is, therefore, the existence form

of the Infinite; all that is in the latter forthe time being is in the former All that ispossible is actual (5.) The Finite is theInfinite, or, to use theistic language, theWorld is God, in the sense that all theworld is and contains is the form in whichGod, at each successive moment, exists.There is no power, save only the powermanifested in the world; no

consciousness, intelligence, or voluntaryactivity, but in finite things, and theaggregate of these is the power,consciousness, intelligence, and activity

of God What we call sin is as much aform of God's activity as what we callvirtue In other words, there is no suchthing as free agency in man, no such thing

as sin or responsibility When a man dies

he sinks into the abyss of being as a drop

of water is lost in the ocean (6.) Man isthe highest form of God's existence God

is incarnate in the human race Strausssays, that what the Church teaches ofChrist is not true of any individual man,but is true of mankind Or, as Feuerbachmore concisely expresses it, "Man alone

is our God." The blasphemy of some ofthe German philosophers on this subject is

simply unutterable In India we see thepractical operation of this system when ittakes hold on the people There thepersonification of the Infinite as evil (theGoddess Kala) is the most popular object

of worship

Epicurean Theory.

Epicurus assumed the existence of matter,force and motion,—Stoff und Kraft Heheld that all space was filled withmolecules of matter in a state of rapidmotion in every direction Thesemolecules were subject to gravity andendowed with properties or forces Onecombination of molecules gave rise tounorganized matter, another to life,another to mind; and from the variouscombinations, guided by unintelligentphysical laws, all the wonderfulorganisms of plants and animals havearisen To these combinations also all thephenomena of life, instinct, and

intelligence in the world are to bereferred This theory has been adopted inour day by a large class of scientific men,especially in Germany The modernadvocates of the theory are immeasurablysuperior to the ancient Epicureans in theirknowledge of astronomy, botany, zoölogy,and biology; but in their theory of theuniverse, and in their mode of accountingfor all the phenomena of life andintelligence, they are precisely on thesame level They have not added an idea

to the system, which has ever beenregarded as the opprobrium of humanthought Büchner, Moleschott, Vogt, holdthat matter is eternal and indestructible;that matter and force are inseparable: theone cannot exist without the other What, it

is asked, is motion without something

moving? What is electricity without anelectrified body? What is attractionwithout molecules attracting each other?What is contractibility without muscularfibre, or secretion without a secretinggland? One combination of moleculesexhibits the phenomena of life, anothercombination exhibits the phenomena ofmind All this was taught by the oldheathen philosopher more than twothousand years ago That this systemdenies the existence of God, of mind as athinking substance distinct from matter,and of the possibility of the consciousexistence of man after death, are notinferences drawn by opponents, butconclusions openly avowed by itsadvocates.

Herbert Spencer's New

As to the origin of the universe, he saysthere are three possible suppositions: 1st.That it is self-existent 2d That it is self-created 3d That it is created by anexternal agency.[3] All these he examinesand rejects The first is equivalent toAtheism, by which Spencer understandsthe doctrine which makes Space, Matter,and Force eternal and the causes of allphenomena This, he says, assumes theidea of self-existence, which isunthinkable The second theory he makesequivalent to Pantheism "Theprecipitation of vapor," he says, "intocloud, aids us in forming a symbolicconception of a self-evolved universe;"but, he adds, "really to conceive self-creation, is to conceive potential existencepassing into actual existence by some

inherent necessity, which we cannot do."(p 32) The Theistic theory, he says, isequally untenable "Whoever agrees thatthe atheistic hypothesis is untenablebecause it involves the impossible idea ofself-existence, must perforce admit thatthe theistic hypothesis is untenable if itcontains the same impossible idea." (p.38) The origin of the universe is,therefore, a fact which cannot beexplained It must have had a cause; andall we know is that its cause isunknowable and inscrutable.

When we turn to nature the result is thesame Everything is inscrutable All weknow is that there are certain appearances,and that where there is appearance theremust be something that appears But what

that something is, what is the noumenonwhich underlies the phenomenon, it isimpossible for us to know In nature wefind two orders of phenomena, orappearances; the one objective orexternal, the other subjective in ourconsciousness There are an Ego and anon-Ego, a subject and object These arenot identical "It is," he says, "rigorouslyimpossible to conceive that ourknowledge is a knowledge of appearancesonly, without at the same time conceiving

a reality of which they are appearances,for appearance without reality isunthinkable." (p 88) So far we can go.There is a reality which is the cause ofphenomena Further than that, in thatdirection, our ignorance is profound Heproves that space cannot be an entity, an

attribute, or a category of thought, or anonentity The same is true of time, ofmotion, of matter, of electricity, light,magnetism, etc., etc They all resolvethemselves into appearances produced by

an unknown cause

As the question, What is matter? is acrucial one, he dwells upon it in variousparts of his writings Newton's theory ofultimate atoms; Leibnitz's doctrine ofmonads; and the dynamic theory ofBoscovich, which makes matter merecentres of force, are all dismissed asunthinkable It is not very clear in whatsense that word is to be taken Sometimes

it seems to mean, meaningless; at others,self-contradictory or absurd; at others,

inconceivable, i e that of which no

conception or mental image can beformed; at any rate, it implies what isunknowable and untenable The result is,

so far as matter is concerned, that weknow nothing about it "Our conception ofmatter," he says, "reduced to its simplestshape, is that of coexistent positions thatoffer resistance, as contrasted with ourconception of space in which thecoexistent positions offer no resistance."(p 166) Resistance, however, is a form

of force; and, therefore, on the followingpage, Spencer says, "that forces standing

in certain correlations, form the wholecontents of our idea of matter."

When we turn from the objective to thesubjective, from the external to the inwardworld, the result is still the same He

agrees with Hume in saying that thecontents of our consciousness is a series

of impressions and ideas He dissents,however, from that philosopher, in sayingthat that series is all we know He admitsthat impressions necessarily imply thatthere is something that is impressed Hestarts the question, What is it that thinks?and answers, We do not know (p 63) Headmits that the reality of individualpersonal minds, the conviction of personalexistence is universal, and perhapsindestructible Nevertheless thatconviction cannot justify itself at the bar

of reason; nay, reason is found to reject it.(p 65) Dean Mansel says, thatconsciousness gives us a knowledge ofself as a substance and not merely of itsvarying states This, however, he says, "is

absolutely negatived by the laws ofthought The fundamental condition to allconsciousness, emphatically insisted upon

by Mr Mansel in common with SirWilliam Hamilton and others, is theantithesis of subject and object What isthe corollary from this doctrine, asbearing on the consciousness of self? Themental act in which self is known implies,like every other mental act, a perceivingsubject and a perceived object If, then,the object perceived is self, what is thesubject that perceives? Or if it is the trueself which thinks, what other self can it bethat is thought of? Clearly, a true cognition

of self implies a state in which theknowing and the known are one—in whichsubject and object are identified; and this

Mr Mansel rightly holds to be the