The myth of Darwin's deathbed recantation is a favorite story of creationists. I don't know where it originated, but there is no substance to it at all. It may have arisen from the mistaken assumption that the Church of England wouldn't have buried him at Westminster Abby unless he had.Anyway, another student asked me after class if it is true that Darwin later in life renounced his entire theory. She had heard this somewhere. I have not heard it, and don't anything about it. Is is true, false, some combination?
More important, however, is to take this opportunity to instruct your student on ad hominem arguments. Let us say Darwin had recanted? So what? The idea stand or fall on the evidence and argument that support them (or not), *not* on the opinion of their originator. Just as (creationists would claim) Darwin might have been wrong about natural selection, so, if he had recanted he might have been wrong about that.
Regards, -- Christopher D. Green Department of Psychology York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3
e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] phone: 416-736-5115 ext. 66164 fax: 416-736-5814 http://www.yorku.ca/christo/
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