THE UNDEAD DARWIN: ICONIC NARRATIVE, SCIENTIFIC CONTROVERSY AND THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

摘要

For historians of science, Charles Darwin is unique for at least one reason. Onehundred and twenty-seven years after his death, the figure of Darwin still has acrucial role to play in the debates of modern science. In contrast, most of the othercharacters who have contributed to, or fundamentally transformed, the histories ofthe sciences remain well known only to their historians. Even figures such as IsaacNewton or Antoine Lavoisier are, for modern physicists and chemists, little morethan names in textbooks for introductory science courses, familiar as part of an originstory, but long since surpassed by their posterity. Darwin's shade is treated very dif-ferently, retaining a place at the heart of the discussions of today's biologists, bothin their public discourse and in their private disputations. In this short article, I wantto explore the appearance of Darwin in one particular modern scientific controversy,and to consider the reasons for his manifestation, before examining the potentialconsequences that this might have for the public face of the history and sociologyof science. As I will show, Darwin's presence in public life does not just reflect hisimportance to the history of science, but is the result of a long process in which therelationship between science and religion has been at the heart of civic debates. Assuch, the field of Darwin studies not only has potentially greater ramifications thando other areas of the history of science, but arguably, its practitioners have greaterresponsibilities to respond to the mobilisation of Darwin's name and reputation.