Darwin in Context: Observation, Loss, and the Question of Origin
Charles Darwin is often treated as an idea rather than a person. His name has become a stand-in for modern science, for evolution as an origin model, and for the supposed incompatibility between faith and reason. In this process, both Darwin and his work are frequently simplified beyond recognition. To understand what Darwin actually contributed—and what he did not—we must return to the historical man, his formation, his observations, and the circumstances under which his most famous work was published.
In this Reading
- Intellectual Formation: Darwin Before Darwinism
- The Beagle Voyage: Observation Without Origins (1831–1836)
- Private Development and Public Restraint (1837–1850)
- Annie Darwin: Illness, Suffering, and Loss (1849–1851)
- Darwin’s Writings About Annie
- Emma Darwin’s Letters and Perspective
- After 1851: Shift in Posture and Publication Trajectory
- Observation, Theory, and the Question of Fabrication
- What Can - and Cannot - Be Known
- “Why Darwin’s Story Matters — and Why Creation Still Stands”