Alô Academia Brasileira de Ciências: mais uma tempestade se aproxima na teoria da evolução.

An approaching storm in evolutionary theory 

Review of: Rereading Darwin’s Origin of Species: The Hesitations of an Evolutionist, by Richard G. Delisle and James Tierney,  2022.  Bloomsbury Academic, London. 176 pp. ISBN: 9781350259577

Alexander Czaja

Evolution, Volume 77, Issue 4, 1 April 2023, Pages 1170–1172, https://doi.org/10.1093/evolut/qpad009

Published: 26 January 2023

For about 10 years, something important has been brewing in the world of evolution, a great storm that, unfortunately, has so far only made itself felt among a few biologists, historians, and philosophers of biology and evolution (Jablonka & Lamb, 2005, 2020; Laland et al., 2014; Müller, 2017; Pigliucci & Müller, 2010; Skinner, 2015). Reading the work of most practicing biologists, one hardly sees any sign of this gathering storm. On the contrary, in standard textbooks and popular literature, no winds of resistance have been felt, and the ship known as the Modern Theory of Evolution (MTE) sails safely and undisturbed from its usual academic course. It remains to be seen how strong the storm will ultimately be.

One recent manifestation of this storm is the new book Rereading Darwin’s Origin of Species by Richard G. Delisle and James Tierney, a short read aimed at reaching a larger audience. Delisle is a paleoanthropologist who also holds a PhD in philosophy. His co-author, James Tierney, studied philosophy at the University of Chicago and is currently Director of the English Language Program at Yale University.

To get straight to the point: The book has no intention of capsizing the MTE ship or to unseating the modern theory but puts forth some provocative theses against the generally accepted view that Darwin was the first modern evolutionary thinker in history: the authors try to demonstrate that there is a wide gap between Darwin and evolutionists today. The most daring of their theses states that Darwin was not an evolutionist in the modern sense of the word. Indeed, the authors question the appropriation of Darwin by proponents of the MTE, who have always placed him and his Origin of Species at the conceptual center of their own model. The book provides compelling arguments that the MTE is based on a highly distorted and anachronistic picture of Darwin, both of his time and main work. Having set forth their case for a fresh look at the Origin, the authors delve deep and meticulously in Darwin’s main work, by uncovering its neglected ambiguities and contradictions. After years of collective Darwin euphoria, in which—as the authors self-critically note—they themselves actively participated, it is now time for a more critical approach. The authors call it “returning Darwin to the human dimension” (p. x) and they wonder “[w]hy has it taken so long for us to realize that Darwin’s commitment to evolutionism was incomplete?” (p. 6).

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