06. The Darwins

Evolution: A Heterodox View

Any conventional history of evolution would begin with Charles Darwin.

You’ll know already that this is not a conventional discussion about evolution. Both evolutionism and Darwinism had intellectual and social roots. Darwin’s own remarkable story did not spring forth spontaneously.

Darwin’s cultural roots are firmly embedded in the Scottish Enlightenment, which included such luminaries as David Hume, Adam Smith, and his own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin.

[The series Evolution: A Heterodox View is also available on udemy.com]

The north of Scotland was the heart of the industrial revolution, which was built not so much on exploitation of workers, but the rise of a middle-class entrepreneurial group of industrialists that transformed English society.