Tag: Thomas Malthus

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
May 12, 2026

Categories
Evolution
History of Science
Scientific Reasoning
Tagged
, Asa Gray, bacteria, Charles Darwin, Charles Kingsley, cosmogonism, Crotchet Castle, crotchets, David Stove, Europe, evolution, evolutionary psychology, False Messiah, fish, Francis Darwin, G. B. Müller, Heilsgeschichte, HMS Beagle, humans, James Moore, Jenny (orangutan), Lamarckian theory, Melanie Phillips, monkeys, nescience, Origin of Species, panspermia, Parousia, progress, Question Time, Richard Dawkins, S. A. Newman, sociobiology, The Kingdom of Speech, Thomas Love Peacock, Thomas Malthus, Tom Wolfe, Victorians}

Paradigm Lost: Darwinism and the Idea of Human Progress

_{Neil Thomas
May 12, 2026

Evolution, History of Science, Scientific Reasoning

17}

The notion of progress is now of course increasingly questioned, especially after what has come to be known as “the calamitous 20th century.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Daniel Witt

Date
June 4, 2025

Categories
Evolution
History of Science
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, "survival of the fittest", Alexis de Tocqueville, animals, capitalism, Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin, Europe, evolution, Evolution News, evolutionary biologists, food, French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Margaret Sanger, Modern Synthesis, Neil Thomas, On the Origin of Species, paradigm shift, population, printing press, Social Darwinism, Thomas Malthus, United States, Winston Churchill, World War II, worldview, Zeitgeist}

Evolution Evolved to Mirror the Zeitgeist

_{Daniel Witt
June 4, 2025

Evolution, History of Science, Intelligent Design

12}

By the mid 1800s, the mental climate had shifted, and the time was ripe for a new Darwin to craft a new Darwinism. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
December 23, 2024

Categories
Evolution
Faith & Science
Tagged
, American Revolution, Aristotle, Charles Darwin, Cicero, Darwinism, Empedocles, Epicurus, Erasmus Darwin, faith and science, Friedrich Engels, Galen, Lucretius, Matt Ridley, natural selection, Plato, Taking Leave of Darwin, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Malthus}

Three Thousand Years of Darwinism

_{Neil Thomas
December 23, 2024

Evolution, Faith & Science

13}

I began to suspect that Darwinism was being taught at school in a somewhat philosophically decontextualized way, lacking historical background. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
October 30, 2024

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Annabel Lustig, Charles Darwin, Christianity, Erasmus Darwin, evolution, Evolution: A Theory in Crisis, Friedrich Nietzsche, Industrial Revolution, Jerry Fodor, jesus, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, natural selection, neo-Darwinists, New Testament, Old Testament, On the Origin of Species, Phillip E. Johnson, Richard Dawkins, Spanish Inquisition, The Blind Watchmaker, The Selfish Gene, Thomas Malthus, Wales}

The Fate of Evolution Without Natural Selection

_{Neil Thomas
October 30, 2024

Evolution, Intelligent Design

10}

It does not seem reasonable to accept the veridical status of evolution on the basis of what an increasing number of scientists perceive as a “dodgy dossier.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
February 12, 2024

Categories
Biology
Chemistry
Evolution
Faith & Science
Tagged
, A. N. Wilson, abiogenesis, apologetics, Arthur Eddington, atheism, Big Bang, Charles Bradlaugh, Daniel Dennett, Darwinism, Erasmus Darwin, evolution, Goldilocks Zone, Karl Popper, Lucretius, natural preservation, natural selection, New Atheists, randomness, Richard Dawkins, spontaneous generation, teleology, The Descent of Man, The Selfish Gene, Thomas Hardy, Thomas Malthus, Werner Heisenberg}

Richard Dawkins and the Law of Unintended Consequences

_{Neil Thomas
February 12, 2024

Biology, Chemistry, Evolution, Faith & Science

20}

The New Atheists’ failure to understand the nuanced way that “ordinary people” think was a profound strategic error. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
November 27, 2023

Categories
Biology
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin, economics, eugenics, laissez-faire, Michael Shermer, natural selection, Thomas Malthus, Wesley J. Smith, World War II}

Darwin and Wallace Read Malthus Differently, and That Made a Big Difference

_{Michael Flannery
November 27, 2023

Biology, Evolution, Intelligent Design

4}

No wonder Alfred Russel Wallace called eugenics “the meddlesome interference of an arrogant scientific priestcraft.” Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
March 7, 2023

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin, Denis Diderot, Erasmus Darwin, evolution, history, Howard Glicksman, intelligent design, Jerry Fodor, Julien Offray de la Mettrie, L’Homme Machine, Lamarckism, Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, metaphors, Mother Nature, natural causes, natural selection, nature, On the Origin of Species, philosophes, Steve Laufmann, Thomas Malthus, transmutation, Victorians, world spirit}

Natural Selection: The Evolution of a Mirage

_{Neil Thomas
March 7, 2023

Evolution, Intelligent Design

19}

Natural selection reveals itself as not just a metaphor but a mixed one: Nature being dumb but nevertheless capable of discrimination. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
January 16, 2023

Categories
Evolution
Intelligent Design
Tagged
, abiogenesis, Aristotle, atheism, atomism, Charles Bradlaugh, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell, Christianity, complexification, David Hume, Edward Aveling, Epicurus, Erasmus Darwin, Friedrich Engels, Georges Cuvier, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Greece, Homo sapiens, Karl Marx, Lucretius, Matthew Arnold, Middle Ages, natural selection, On the Origin of Species, Patrick Matthew, Plato, Rome, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Malthus, transhumanism, Unmoved Mover, Victorian England, William Paley}

Old Wine in New Bottles: How Darwin Recruited Malthus to Fortify a Failed Idea from Antiquity

_{Neil Thomas
January 16, 2023

Evolution, Intelligent Design

16}

It was undoubtedly a tremendous philosophical coup for Darwin whose knowledge of formal philosophy was limited. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Michael Flannery

Date
January 12, 2023

Categories
Evolution
Science
Tagged
, Adrian Desmond, Alfred Russel Wallace, Benjamin Wiker, Darwin: Portrait of a Genius, eugenics, evolution, forced sterilization, From Darwin to Hitler, Germany, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Heidelberg University, history, Hitler’s Ethic, Jacques Barzun, James Moore, Janet Browne, Joseph Stalin, New Scientist, On the Origin of Species, Paul Johnson, Phillip E. Johnson, Racism, Richard Weikart, Slate, Social Darwinism, The Descent of Man, Thomas Malthus, United States, Victorian England}

Remembering Paul Johnson’s Assessment of Darwin

_{Michael Flannery
January 12, 2023

Evolution, Science

10}

The reviewers that insist this work is “ludicrous,” a “smear,” or a “hatchet job” are wrong; it is none of these. Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Neil Thomas

Date
November 9, 2022

Categories
Bioethics
Faith & Science
Philosophy
Tagged
, "survival of the fittest", Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Christianity, evolutionary processes, Higher Criticism, logic, nature, nihilism, On the Origin of Species, poetry, spirituality, Thomas Malthus, Victorian England, William Wordsworth, Wordsworth versus Darwin (series)}

William Wordsworth’s Posthumous Challenge to Darwinian Nihilism

_{Neil Thomas
November 9, 2022

Bioethics, Faith & Science, Philosophy

4}

Paradoxically, Wordsworth's theology may have formed a more effective counterforce to Darwin's ideas than Biblical orthodoxy itself. Read More ›