On the Origin of Species?

Question

Why did Charles Darwin not publish the origin of species right away? Did he doubt himself or what? I heard that he spent those 20 years refining it, but was doubt also involved?

Answer 1

his grandfather and others in his family were very devout christians who had looked at this question froma religious viewpoint.  As pointed out above, he really only bothered to publish when Wallace was going to publish basically the same idea.  Very interesting how the public and familial pressure really kept him from putting it out there until competition stepped in.  I believe both papers were presented to the Academy of science on the same day.

Answer 2

We just learned this in school. He was looking over his notes with some other biologist. He was also making more observations to support his hypothesis.

Answer 3

Doubt maybe. Fear most likely.

Answer 4

More like fear...he knew his theory would be condemned by the Church.

Answer 5

as a scientist, Darwin never rushed to judgement. given what had happened to galileo and copernicus, I believe he wanted to be as sure as he could be. incidently, although his premise of evolution has never been seriously challenged, he seems to have been wrong about nearly every detail he included.

Answer 6

He was a devout christian, and chose the career of naturalist over that of pastor/reverend/vicar. Understanding the likely reaction to its publication, he held off. but when word reached him that the American, Alfred Wallace, had independently developed a theory along similar lines, realised that he no longer could afford that option, so it was: "Publish, and be damned!" Even he did not predict the extent of the backlash: he was publicly reviled, with cartoons published about him in "Punch", a popular publication in England at the time, and lost many friends over his works, which were interpreted as being against the teachings of the bible. He may have learnt from Copernicus and Galileo, and was hoping to be like Copernicus, publishing posthumously, rather than Galileo, who was forced to recant, under threat of torture by the catholic church, which he did, seeing as they had burnt my hero, Giordano Bruno, alive at the stake, in 1600, for commiting the heresy of saying that the stars were like our sun, and had planets with people on them. Galileo was kept under house arrest for the rest of his life, with only his daughter permitted to see him. This was despite the fact that anyone with a telescope could see and describe everything he had drawn and told of, in the night sky.

Answer 7

Before the book, he sent little essays to his scientist friends to gauge the publics reaction.  They were, for the most part, laughed at.  His idea was a big pill to swallow for the scientific community, and for the general community, who considered science evil, it was a gigantic pill to swallow.

So he spent that time gathering a ridiculous amount of evidence, preparing coutnerarguments, and becoming a noted scientist.  If he hadn't he would have lost his job and his friends.  He would have been accused of blasphemy by the church and crazy by everyone else.

Answer 8

Origin of species is contradictory to the church teaching of our beginning. During those time it is difficult to go against the church teaching.

Second, proofs of his theory is difficult to find. Archeological findings takes years to locate. Information is not as fast as it is today. Printing is slow and archaic.

His theory requires a new paradigm shift. From religion based to scientifically based theory.

Answer 9

He was on a boat 20 years before it was published, working on an altogether different book.

He pretty much wrote it in 2 years. As soon as Wallace's first paper came out he rushed to get it out so it would be DARWIN's origin of the species, not Wallace's.

Doubt was not the problem.