It is now a century and a third, almost exactly, since the publication in 1859 of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. In this period the view of evolutionary progress introduced by Darwin has radically altered the way we think about ourselves and the world in which we live. There are very few events in the history of ideas that can be compared in terms of power, reach and impact with the emergence of the Darwinian analysis of progress through evolution. There are, however, several distinct components in the Darwinian understanding of evolutionary progress, and it is possible that the profundity of some of the elements may make us less conscious of the dubious nature of others. In particular, Darwin's general idea of progress - on which his notion of evolutionary progress is dependent - can have the effect of misdirecting our attention, in ways that are crucial in the contemporary world.

LRB 5 November 1992 | PDF Download