Author: Manier, Edward.
Title: The young Darwin and his cultural circle. A study of influences which helped shape the language and logic of the first drafts of the theory of natural selection.
Description: Dordrecht/Boston: D. Reidel, 1978; xii+242pp., index, bibliography, endnotes, bl-wh illustrations, 8vo, paper. Good copy. ¶ "Based on notebooks, manuscripts and marginalia dating from 1837-44, this book probes the significance of a set of influences overlooked until now: the young Darwin's sympathetic reading of William Wordsworth's The excursion, his notebook comments on Dugald Stewart's realistic philosophy of sign and metaphor; his intense reaction to Brewster's lengthy review of August Comte's Cours de philosophie positive, and his critical review of Sir James Mackintosh's Dissertation on the progress of ethical philosophy. It shows how this manuscript evidence is at odds with established scholarly opinion concerning the logical structure of Darwin's theory, his exploitation of the scientific uses of metaphor to represent the roleof chance in evolution, his 'materialism', his religious and aesthetic attitudes and the ethical implications of natural selection." (back cover text).

Keywords: Darwin biografie wetenschapsgesch.