Did Darwin denounce his theory of evolution before he died?

Question

I heard once that Charles Darwin "changed his mind" before he died, and denounced his theory of men descending from apes. Is this true? (I have heard of the Lady Hope story, but is there any other source stating this?)

Answer 1

I've heard this before too.  What is actually true is that he didn't even want to release his theory when he did.  Like many great scientists of the time, he was afraid of the Christian backlash.  He didn't release his theory until after reading a manuscript in which Wallace proposed a very similar theory.  He released his theory of evolution by natural selection so that Wallace wouldn't get credit for the work he had done over many years.

Answer 2

This is a fine line that can be debated. Charles Darwin did renounce his faith in god on his death bed. Now did that translate into his theory of man? It can be debated into what ever the person wants it to be

Answer 3

Quoted frrom Wikipedia;

Though Darwin wrote of religion as a tribal survival strategy, he still believed that God was the ultimate lawgiver.[117] His belief dwindled, and with the death of his daughter Annie in 1851, Darwin finally lost all faith in Christianity. He continued to help the local church with parish work, but on Sundays would go for a walk while his family attended church.[118] He now thought it better to look at pain and suffering as the result of general laws rather than direct intervention by God.[119] When asked about his religious views, he wrote that he had never been an atheist in the sense of denying the existence of a God, and that generally “an Agnostic would be the more correct description of my state of mind.”[120]

The “Lady Hope Story”, published in 1915, claimed that Darwin had reverted back to Christianity on his sickbed. The claims were refuted by Darwin’s children and have been dismissed as false by historians.[121] His daughter, Henrietta, who was at his deathbed, said that he did not convert to Christianity.[122] His last words were, in fact, directed at Emma: "Remember what a good wife you have been."[123]

Answer 4

What sacrilage! He never did any such thing!

Answer 5

If anything, his theory was re-inforced by the time he died, as more fossils turned up, which indicated that his thinking had gone in the correct direction!

Answer 6

The Counter Creationists Handbook will confirm what mykrodot posted!

Answer 7

Darwin NEVER had a theory of men descending from apes and he never changed his mind about evolution. He was far too smart to do either one.

Answer 8

Personally, i don't believe in darwin's theory.

i believe that God created human as they are now & Addam & Eve were the first humans with even good cognitive abilities not as some theories describe the ealry humans. though there was difference as can be said in clothing & style fashion

Answer 9

If someone theorizes that 1+1=2 and then denounce it on his deathbed, will it suddenly become false?

Theories are validated with proofs not spewings from uneducated masses.

Answer 10

Science teachers will sometimes tell you that Darwin was religious. This is based on the fact that he almost went into ministry. Frankly he was not: he was a pure natural scientist and explained religion in The Descent of Man as an evolutionary feature of apes. Considering he put so much work into providing evidence to his ideas, it is essentially impossible that he renounced his own science.

In other words, it's a viscious lie.

Answer 11

Charles Darwin argued that the development of any one species from its ancestor would be a long and gradual progression, passing through countless numbers of intermediate forms, He realised, if he was correct, there would be countless thousands of these forms, and he further realised that upon the existence of these forms , his theory stood, or fell, and it haunted him. But 'why?' he asked, raising his own doubts, 'do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth? He was painfully aware of the meagre offerings from the fossil record, and he devoted a whole chapter of his book to the imperfection of the geological record. He was considerably uneasy about the situation and felt it necessary to print his confidence,  "that in future ages... many fossil links will be discovered'.

       To this day, no one has found any "in between" creatures or missing links in the fossil record.

Answer 12

There's lots of "Darwin denounced evolution" claims but no documentation. The Lady Hope claim has been refuted.

"Shortly after his death, the story began to spread that Darwin converted to Christianity and renounced his theories on his deathbed. The story was refuted by his family at the time, and in a 1985 biography of Darwin."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworceste...

About the myth and Lady Hope, His daughter wrote: "I was present at his deathbed," she wrote in the Christian for February 23, 1922. "Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness. I believe he never even saw her, but in any case she had no influence over him in any department of thought or belief. He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier."

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hope.htm...

Darwin never claimed that "man descended from apes." It was about natural selection and that an organisim that adapts to it's enviorment will pass it's genes on.

This is not unlike the famous Dan "Latin" story. It didn't happen but people want to believe it.

Answer 13

Darwin denounced his position regarding his findings about the origin of the species immediately after he descended to heaven.

Did I say "descended'? I meant ascended, of course. What was I thinking? It might have bneen a...Freudian Slip!

Answer 14

that's a new one on me.

Answer 15

no he never did its just a legend

Answer 16

I hope so or he's busy in h**l.