Manias Chris
Department of History, King's College London, Room S8.32, Strand Campus, Strand, London WC2R 2LS, United Kingdom.
Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2017 Dec;66:18-26. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2017.07.002. Epub 2017 Aug 2.
This paper examines the tension between Darwinian evolution and palaeontological research in Britain in the 1860-1914 period, looking at how three key promoters of Darwinian thinking - Thomas Henry Huxley, Edwin Ray Lankester and Alfred Russell Wallace - integrated palaeontological ideas and narratives of life's history into their public presentations of evolutionary theory. It shows how engagement with palaeontological science was an important part of the promotion of evolutionary ideas in Britain, which often bolstered notions that evolution depended upon progress and development along a wider plan. While often critical of some of the non-Darwinian concepts of evolution professed by many contemporary palaeontologists, and frequently citing the 'imperfection' of the fossil record itself, Darwinian thinkers nevertheless engaged extensively with palaeontology to develop evolutionary narratives informed by notions of improvement and progress within the natural world.
本文探讨了1860年至1914年间英国达尔文进化论与古生物学研究之间的张力，考察了三位达尔文思想的关键推动者——托马斯·亨利·赫胥黎、埃德温·雷·兰克斯特和阿尔弗雷德·拉塞尔·华莱士——如何将古生物学观点和生命历史叙事融入他们对进化理论的公开阐述中。文章表明，参与古生物学科学是在英国推广进化思想的一个重要部分，这常常支持了进化依赖于更广泛计划中的进步和发展的观念。虽然达尔文主义者经常批评许多当代古生物学家所主张的一些非达尔文进化概念，并经常提及化石记录本身的“不完整性”，但他们仍然广泛参与古生物学研究，以发展基于自然界中改进和进步观念的进化叙事。
