Autobiography
1. What were Charles Darwin’s intended audiences for this autobiography? How might these audiences have differed in their expectations? Can you see ways in which the need to appeal to alternate tastes may have affected his remarks?
2. With what topics would his fellow scientists have been most concerned? His Victorian audience? His family?
3. What is revealed by the nature of the passages which his wife wished omitted?
4. With what aspects of his childhood is Darwin most concerned? How does he describe his earlier self? (love of hunting, collecting)
5. What account does he give of his father, teacher, and mentors? His sisters? His extended family, including the Wedgewoods? Which aspects of their character or conduct is emphasized in each case?
6. How may his father have influenced his interests and ambitions?
7. What seems to be the principle of selection for many of his anecdotes?
8. What account does Darwin give of his response to formal education both as a boy and as a university student?
9. In his view what were the limitations of his early training? Of the universities he attended? Why may he not have wished to become a doctor?
10. Of what value to him were his residences in Edinburgh and Cambridge?
11. What did he gain from his experiences as a naturalist on the Beagle? Does he describe what he sees in aesthetic terms?
12. What account does he give of the Captain of the vessel? What does he mean when he describes Fitz-Roy as “noble”?
13. What views does Darwin express on the topics of religion and moral feeling? On what religious/moral subjects does he seem ambivalent?
14. What experiences impressed him with the importance of explanatory theories for scientific discovery?
15. What attitudes does he express toward animals? Toward plants? What do you think he means in referring to the great suffering of animals?
16. What were some of Darwin’s early cultural interests? (poetry, music) Why does he believe he is less able to enjoy these in later life? Do you think this is a common phenomenon?
17. In old age, what kind of literature does he prefer? (light fiction with happy endings) Why do you think he was attracted to the latter?
18. What do we learn about his health? His personal preferences regarding his mode of life? His social contacts?
19. Does the Autobiography indicate any political views? On which social issues does Darwin seem to feel most strongly?
20. What circumstances have enabled him to devote himself entirely to his writings? What topics have these covered, and on which does he look back most fondly?
21. What does Darwin indicate about his habits of study and composition?
22. As he looks back, what experiences have most affected him? What intellectual self-estimate does he give?
23. What are some features of Darwin’s prose style?
24. Would you describe the narrator of this autobiography as competitive? Fair in his judgments? To what extent is he a reliable narrator?
25. How would you compare Darwin’s autobiography to those by fellow Victorians such as Martineau, Oliphant, Trollope, or John Stuart Mill? How may his autobiography have been influenced by the fact that he was a scientist rather than critic or creative writer?
Selections from Voyage of the H. M. S. Beagle
What are traits of the tortoises common to the Galapagos? How do they satisfy their need for great quantities of water? How do the inhabitants treat them? What is revealed by the fact that they seem to die of accidents? (extraordinary longevity)
What happens when Darwin tries to ride one?
On what grounds does he consider the tortoise an aboriginal inhabitant?
What does Darwin believe are the chief disadvantages of a long sea voyage? Under what circumstances did James Cook make his voyage, and how has travel improved since then?
What aspects of the trip can seem monotonous? From what perspective is watching a storm most dramatic? (from the shore, 163)
For greatest benefit, with what form of biology should the traveler be familiar and why? (botany, "in all views plants form the chief embellishment," 163)
What does he remember most from his trip? (plains of Argentina, 163-64) Why is he attracted to scenes he describes as "arid wastes"? (leave more scope for imagination, i. e. sublime)
What is his reaction to seeing a human? What does he assume about him? (a barbarian, "man in his lowest and most savage state," 164) What does he assume these non-civilized humans lack? (reason, arts consequent on reason)
What strikes him about the effects of an earthquake? (when viewers see the "balanced works of man in a moment overthrown, we feel the insignificance of his boasted power" (164-65)
What is his reaction on looking back on former travels in less familiar lands? (extreme delight, "glowing sense of happiness") What is the effect of weeks of travel along small portions of foreign shores? (sense of vast spaces) Would this be less true at the present day?
What in his view is the effect of the introduction of Christianity to the peoples of the South Sea islands? (a remarkable "march of improvement," unique to history, 165) What does he likely have in mind? Would all of those affected agree?
What are his views on a potential British dominance of the South Seas? Did this happen? How should Britain regard these colonies? (with "a high pride and satisfaction," 165) What are the consequences of British rule more broadly? ("To hoist the British flag, seems to draw with it as a certain consequence, wealth, prosperity, and civilization," 165)
Would most of his fellow Britons in 1836 have agreed?
On balance, should a young naturalist travel? What limitations will there be in his/her observations? (166, cannot fill in details) Can one see these limitations in some of Darwin's own observations?
What unexpected benefit has he experienced during the trip? (kindness of strangers)
From On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Can we expect present-day species to resemble those of the future? (no, 166) Which types of species will leave descendants? (those belonging to the large and dominant groups within each class) Is this surprising?
What processes create variation? What results from reproductive increase? (a struggle for existence, 167) What does Darwin mean by "less-improved forms"? (not necessarily better in general, but better for the specific purpose of reproduction)
What good results does he believe arise from "the war of nature, from famine and death"? Could one argue against the view that famine and war create improved forms of life? (victims are often random--when a bomb falls it doesn't kill people according to their "fitness")
How does Darwin value the "production of the higher animals," including humans? ("the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving," 167)
What is the relationship between these views and "a Creator," according to Darwin? (this being has breathed life "into a few forms or into one," 167) Would it be necessary to posit a divinity in order to accept the notion of evolution?
Are there aspects of evolutionary theory which might belie the notion of divine origins? ("the survival of the fittest" would seem inconsistnt with views of love and beneficience)
What is Darwin's emotional response to the concept of evolution? ("endless forms most wonderful have been, and are being evolved," 167).
Conclusion to The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex:
What conclusion does Darwin reach in viewing the structural relationship between man and other animals? The difference between human races and sexes?
What does Darwin find to be the determining element in human development? Is further development possible?
What effect has the development of language produced on human intelligence?
What conclusion does he reach about the factors which should be desirable in human selection? Are these entirely consistent with his examples of the decorated peacocks, etc.?
What is the relationship of moral qualities to human development? In his view, what motivates humans toward good behavior? Do you find his explanations of the relationship of morality to evolution convincing?
According to Darwin, may moral traits be inherited? (“It is not improbable that after long practice virtuous tendencies may be inherited.”) What may have prompted him to this opinion? Would present-day scientists share these views? Is this consistent with his belief in the "survival of the fittest"?
What seems his attitude toward contemporary discussions of eugenics?
What attitudes does he express toward non-European races? Towards non-“civilized” forms of social organization? (“lowly progenitors”)
What does he make of the argument that a belief in a deity is inherent in all human beings? (it’s not; and notions of gods, spirits, etc. may differ)
Which sex most nearly approaches to permanent childhood? (“the female somewhat resembles her young offspring throughout life”) Would this have been a common view at the time? From what misperceptions may it result?
What do you make of the argument that “variations arising late in life are commonly transmitted to one and the same sex”? What may he have had in mind? (women transfer their traits only to their daughters and men to their sons; this view lies behind his fear that human advancement will be limited by male humans' sexual attraction to what he views as inferior traits in women, such as weakness of body and intellect)
What types of sexual selection does he advocate, and how are contemporary persons failing to exercise these choices? (they choose wealth or rank over superiority in body or mind, 168)
Who should refrain from marriage? (any who exhibit inferiority) What kinds of marriages does he think should be forbidden? (those between relatives) Is this view generally upheld today? (yes--one isn't permitted to marry one's cousin, sister, brother, etc.)
What does he feel about limitations on population, such as birth control? (opposes strongly; competition will produce a better species; the able should produce more offspring) Did Darwin’s life follow the trajectory of competition for economic survival? (independently wealthy) Is his advocacy of this competition inconsistent with his view that one should marry for superiority of "intellectual and moral qualities"? (presumably the virtuous and good are no more likely to survive than the cruel and rapacious in a state of wild nature)
What scene does he evoke in his final peroration? Why should humans not feel shame at their descent from lower animals?
Are there elements of his argument that the "heroic little monkey" is a superior ancestor than the "savage who delights to torture his enemies" which seem forced? (sees high moral qualities in the monkey and the worst possible traits in the "savage")
What may be limits on human development? (“Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.”) Is his final view of the effects of evolution an optimistic one? What is the relationship between his praise of human benevolence, sympathy, and "god-like intellect" and his acknowledgement of humanity's "lowly origin"?
Is Darwin consistent in his identification of superior traits, or does he shift between admiring physical and mental strength and moral virtues? How does this affect his argument?