Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Origins and the Greeks
- 2 Evolution before Darwin
- 3 Charles Darwin’s Geology
- 4 Looking Back with “Great Satisfaction” on Charles Darwin’s Vertebrate Paleontology
- 5 The Origins of the Origin
- 6 Darwin and Taxonomy
- 7 Darwin and the Barnacles
- 8 The Analogy between Artificial and Natural Selection
- 9 The Origin of Species
- 10 Sexual Selection
- 11 Darwin and Species
- 12 Darwin and Heredity
- 13 Darwin and Time
- 14 Darwin’s Evolutionary Botany
- 15 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 16 Chance and Design
- 17 Darwin and Teleology
- 18 The Evolution of the Origin (1859–1872)
- 19 Alfred Russel Wallace
- 20 Darwin and Humans
- 21 Darwin and Language
- 22 Darwin and Ethics
- 23 Social Darwinism
- 24 Darwin and the Levels of Selection
- 25 Darwin and Religion
- 26 Darwinism in Britain
- 27 Darwinism in the United States, 1859–1930
- 28 The German Reception of Darwin’s Theory, 1860–1945
- 29 Darwin and Darwinism in France before 1900
- 30 Encountering Darwin and Creating Darwinism in China
- 31 Darwinism in Latin America
- 32 Botany
- 33 Population Genetics
- 34 Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies
- 35 Ecological Genetics
- 36 Darwin and Darwinism in France after 1900
- 37 Botany and the Evolutionary Synthesis, 1920–1950
- 38 The Emergence of Life on Earth and the Darwinian Revolution
- 39 The Evolution of the Testing of Evolution
- 40 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 41 The Tree of Life
- 42 Sociobiology
- 43 Evolutionary Paleontology
- 44 Darwin and Geography
- 45 Darwin and the Finches
- 46 Developmental Evolution
- 47 Darwin’s Evolutionary Ecology
- 48 Darwin and the Environment
- 49 Molecular Biology
- 50 Challenging Darwinism
- 51 Human Evolution after Darwin
- 52 Language Evolution since Darwin
- 53 Cultural Evolution
- 54 Literature
- 55 Darwin and Gender
- 56 Evolutionary Epistemology
- 57 Ethics after Darwin
- 58 Darwin and Protestantism
- 59 Creationism
- 60 Darwin and Catholicism
- 61 Judaism, Jews, and Evolution
- 62 Religion
- 63 From Evolution and Medicine to Evolutionary Medicine
- Bibliography
- Index
13 - Darwin and Time
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- 1 Origins and the Greeks
- 2 Evolution before Darwin
- 3 Charles Darwin’s Geology
- 4 Looking Back with “Great Satisfaction” on Charles Darwin’s Vertebrate Paleontology
- 5 The Origins of the Origin
- 6 Darwin and Taxonomy
- 7 Darwin and the Barnacles
- 8 The Analogy between Artificial and Natural Selection
- 9 The Origin of Species
- 10 Sexual Selection
- 11 Darwin and Species
- 12 Darwin and Heredity
- 13 Darwin and Time
- 14 Darwin’s Evolutionary Botany
- 15 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 16 Chance and Design
- 17 Darwin and Teleology
- 18 The Evolution of the Origin (1859–1872)
- 19 Alfred Russel Wallace
- 20 Darwin and Humans
- 21 Darwin and Language
- 22 Darwin and Ethics
- 23 Social Darwinism
- 24 Darwin and the Levels of Selection
- 25 Darwin and Religion
- 26 Darwinism in Britain
- 27 Darwinism in the United States, 1859–1930
- 28 The German Reception of Darwin’s Theory, 1860–1945
- 29 Darwin and Darwinism in France before 1900
- 30 Encountering Darwin and Creating Darwinism in China
- 31 Darwinism in Latin America
- 32 Botany
- 33 Population Genetics
- 34 Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies
- 35 Ecological Genetics
- 36 Darwin and Darwinism in France after 1900
- 37 Botany and the Evolutionary Synthesis, 1920–1950
- 38 The Emergence of Life on Earth and the Darwinian Revolution
- 39 The Evolution of the Testing of Evolution
- 40 Mimicry and Camouflage
- 41 The Tree of Life
- 42 Sociobiology
- 43 Evolutionary Paleontology
- 44 Darwin and Geography
- 45 Darwin and the Finches
- 46 Developmental Evolution
- 47 Darwin’s Evolutionary Ecology
- 48 Darwin and the Environment
- 49 Molecular Biology
- 50 Challenging Darwinism
- 51 Human Evolution after Darwin
- 52 Language Evolution since Darwin
- 53 Cultural Evolution
- 54 Literature
- 55 Darwin and Gender
- 56 Evolutionary Epistemology
- 57 Ethics after Darwin
- 58 Darwin and Protestantism
- 59 Creationism
- 60 Darwin and Catholicism
- 61 Judaism, Jews, and Evolution
- 62 Religion
- 63 From Evolution and Medicine to Evolutionary Medicine
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection required time for its operation. Darwin (1859, 287) knew that “it is highly important for us to gain some notion, however imperfect, of the lapse of years.” He needed some idea of the total amount of time available and the rate at which evolution took place, but he lacked data on both. Perhaps he was minded of the situation he faced when cataloging the world’s coral reefs and developing a theory for their origin, when he had to resort to unquantified phrases such as “slowly sinking” and “prolonged subsidence” (Darwin 1842c). For evolution, he had some relative data on roughly in which order certain taxa had evolved through geological time, but he also lacked detail here, especially with regard to the most recent parts of the geological record, and so he kept a close eye on the rates of appearance of domesticated varieties in relation to the archaeological record (Darwin 1868b). He became entangled with involved discussions on matters for which we now have far more complete data, but where his instincts were broadly correct. On the other hand, he and his contemporaries lacked information on the complexity and rapidity of geological changes (e.g., during the Quaternary period) which might well have made a substantial difference to how he formulated and presented his theory of evolution. In this chapter, I briefly discuss these aspects of how knowledge, or lack of it, influenced Darwin’s ideas.
The Age of the Earth
The first edition of On the Origin of Species (Darwin 1859) predates any significant attempt at a figure for the Earth’s age. Darwin’s ideas matured in the early years of scientific discussion of topics for which contemporary answers had been provided by the Bible, and interpretations of it (including the suggestion of Buckland [1836] that “millions and millions of years” might have passed between the Creation and the Mosaic narrative). Scientific rationale for understanding the age of Earth was, however, in its infancy (Dalrymple 1991), and Darwin was concerned that objections would be raised against his theory of evolution by natural selection on the grounds that Earth was not sufficiently old, although many geologists were apparently thinking of increasingly long periods of time since the origin of Earth (A. Geikie 1893).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Darwin and Evolutionary Thought , pp. 124 - 130Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013