On 30 Jan 2009 at 0:16, Christopher D. Green wrote: I said, in reference to a new book on Darwin,
> If Desmond and Moore are right about Darwin's motivation, it's > remarkable to think that Darwin held such views at a time when most, > including many religious authorities, defended the practice of slavery. Chris Green astutely (or acerbically, take your pick) commented: > What is your evidence for this remarkable claim, Stephen. "Most" of > whom? The British outlawed the slave trade before Darwin was born > (1809, as I recall) and they outlawed slavery itself across the empire > n > the 1833, while Darwin was still out on the Beagle. And Allen Esterson laid into me, noting that: > I fear that Stephen has got his chronology wrong here. The great > campaign in Britain to abolish slavery had become a mass movement by > the end of the eighteenth century. Yes, one of the great strengths of TIPS is that we can feel free to spout off on all sorts of matters without the need for checking one's facts. We can do this because we feel secure in the knowledge that when one strays from the path of truth, esteemed colleagues will gently guide one who has lost his way back from the brink. So it happens here. Belated fact-checking does lead to the conclusion that the action on the slave trade and slavery itself, at least in the Americas and Britain, was largely over by the time Darwin would have got started on the topic. Thanks for the correction. It does leave open the question what Desmond and Moore would be going on about if "Darwin's sacred cause" [the title of their book] was largely won before he published his _Descent of Man_ in 1871. I suppose actually reading the book would be too much to ask. Stephen ----------------------------------------------------------------- Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, Emeritus Bishop's University e-mail: [email protected] 2600 College St. Sherbrooke QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Subscribe to discussion list (TIPS) for the teaching of psychology at http://flightline.highline.edu/sfrantz/tips/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------- --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
