1: RACE AND THE ORIGINS DEBATE
43 In short, there was every reason to expect that some groups
would have distinct biological advantages that others did not. The latter had not progressed as far in the direction of humanness as others. Some were more human, and some less human, than others. No prizes for guessing that the ‘most human’ or ‘most evolved’ ones would be Darwin’s own race. And Darwin very much understood and believed these sorts of things about races, as will be seen.
Leading Darwin historian Peter Bowler is Professor of the History of Science at Queen’s University, Belfast.24 a recorded interview that:
“… by the time he [Darwin] writes The Descent of Man in 1871 it’s pretty clear that he by that time shares the growing suspicion or conviction of many Europeans. The non-white races simply do not have the capacity to be elevated properly into civilised human beings, that they are mentally and morally at a more limited level. In a sense they are stuck at an early stage in the biological evolution of the human species.”25
Referring to the natives he met at Tierra del Fuego, at the tip of South America, Darwin wrote:
“I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement. … These poor wretches were stunted in their growth, their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint, their skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their voices discordant and their gestures violent. Viewing such men, one can hardly
24. In the UK and British Commonwealth countries like Australia, ‘Professor’ means head of department. By contrast, a junior lecturer in the UK would be a ‘professor’ if in the same sort of role in the US. 25. Speaking on CMI’s 2009 year of Darwin documentary, The Voyage that Shook the World. Along with other Darwin experts on that documentary, Bowler attempted a disclaimer due to embarrassment at featuring in a ‘creationist’ film. The published transcripts (see
creation.com/darwin-historians-not-misrepresented) confirm that all of them were accurately represented.
He stated in
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