Darwin's Evolving Identity : Adventure, Ambition, and the Sin of Speculation / Alistair Sponsel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sponsel, Alistair, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882--Authorship.

Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882--Knowledge--Geology.

Lyell, Charles, Sir, 1797-1875.

Geology--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Why-against his mentor's exhortations to publish-did Charles Darwin take twenty years to reveal his theory of evolution by natural selection? In Darwin's Evolving Identity, Alistair Sponsel argues that Darwin adopted this cautious approach to atone for his provocative theorizing as a young author spurred by that mentor, the geologist Charles Lyell. While we might expect him to have been tormented by guilt about his private study of evolution, Darwin was most distressed by harsh reactions to his published work on coral reefs, volcanoes, and earthquakes, judging himself guilty of an authorial "sin of speculation." It was the battle to defend himself against charges of overzealous theorizing as a geologist, rather than the prospect of broader public outcry over evolution, which made Darwin such a cautious author of Origin of Species. Drawing on his own ambitious research in Darwin's manuscripts and at the Beagle's remotest ports of call, Sponsel takes us from the ocean to the Origin and beyond. He provides a vivid new picture of Darwin's career as a voyaging naturalist and metropolitan author, and in doing so makes a bold argument about how we should understand the history of scientific theories.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Introduction

PART I. Theorizing on the Move

PART II. Training in Theory

PART III. A Different Approach to Authorship

PART IV. Writing the Origin with His "Fingers Burned"

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2018.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Okt 2019)

ISBN:

9780226523255

022652325X

OCLC:

1035017906