Essay reviews: The species theory evolves

1991 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-265
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
The Public ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Level Of Confidence ◽  
High Standards

The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Volume IV (1847—1850) (ed. Frederick Burkhardt & Sydney Smith) Cambridge University Press, 1988. Pp. xxxiii + 711, £32.50. ISBN 0-521-25590-2. Volume V (1851-1855). 1989. Pp. xxix + 705. £ 32.50. ISBN 0-521-25591-0. Volume VI (1856-1857). 1990. Pp. xxix + 673. £ 35.00 ISBN 0-521-25586-4 These three volumes cover the years in which Darwin’s theory underwent major developments, finally emerging in a form which he felt suitable for publication. At one time, it was widely believed that the version of the theory outlined in the 1844 ‘Essay’ was already fairly mature. Darwin refrained from publishing because he was afraid of public condemnation and turned aside to other matters, especially his work on barnacles. Recent scholarship had emphasized that this interpretation does not do justice to the facts, and the letters transcribed in these volumes back up the new historiography. Darwin’s ideas developed and matured as he worked on a variety of projects, all of which (including the barnacles) were grist to the mill of his species theory. His decision in 1856 to begin preparing an account of the theory for publication, was the result not merely of a growing feeling that the topic could now be put before the public, but also of a new level of confidence in the explanatory power of the theory itself. Sydney Smith died on 21 September 1988, while Volume V was still in preparation. This and subsequent volumes have thus become a memorial to the scholar who did so much to get the whole project under way. The professionalism of the team that Frederick Burkhardt and Sydney Smith assembled to edit the letters is evident from the rate of publication (one volume a year) coupled with the high standards that are being maintained.

Charles Darwin

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Radick
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Fossil Species ◽  
Scientific Training ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Charles Lyell ◽  
Science Degree ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
University Science ◽  
Erasmus Darwin ◽  
Beagle Voyage

Anyone beginning to learn about Charles Darwin (b. 1809–d. 1882) will sooner or later need to reckon with the vast body of writings by him and about him. This bibliographic guide aims to help newcomers find their way to the best of classic and recent scholarship. As the major episodes and achievements of Darwin’s life organize the main part of this guide, it is well to start with a brief biographical sketch. Born and educated in the English town of Shrewsbury, Darwin attended Edinburgh University medical school and then Cambridge University, where he received clerical-scientific training. Next came five years traveling around the world aboard HMS Beagle (1831–1836), followed by several years of intense geological publishing and private theorizing from a base in London. It was in this period that Darwin developed many of his distinctive ideas about the evolution or, to use the vocabulary of the day, “transmutation” of species, including the two most important: that living and fossil species belong to a branching “tree of life;” and that much of the evolutionary change propelling the gradual growth of this tree is due to a process that Darwin called “natural selection.” The decades from 1842 to 1882, spent largely at Down House in Kent with his wife Emma and their ever more numerous children, were immensely productive, domestically contented, physically trying (due to a mysterious illness), and—after the publication of the Origin of Species in 1859—scientifically controversial. From start to finish, it was a life of great privilege. Darwin’s grandfathers were the pottery magnate Josiah Wedgwood and the physician, poet, and scientific (indeed evolutionary) thinker Erasmus Darwin. In an era when no one in Britain could study for a university science degree, young Charles received the best scientific education available, especially from the naturalist Robert Grant at Edinburgh and the geologist Adam Sedgwick and botanist John Stevens Henslow at Cambridge. Darwin’s costs on the Beagle voyage were covered courtesy of his wealthy father, Robert. On returning from the voyage, Darwin moved easily among the London scientific elite, becoming close with Charles Lyell, whose books on gradualist geology Darwin had absorbed. Nor did it hurt that, between Darwin family money and the Wedgwood family money that came with marriage to Emma (his first cousin), Darwin was very rich, leaving him free—when not undone by illness—to devote himself fully to his scientific pursuits.

scholarly journals The Evolution of Communicating the Uncertainty of Climate Change to Policymakers: A Study of IPCC Synthesis Reports

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2466
Author(s):  
Tomas Molina ◽  
Ernest Abadal
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
The Public ◽  
Level Of Confidence ◽  
Ipcc Report ◽  
Degree Of Certainty ◽  
History Of ◽  
Tackle Climate Change

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports on climate change have served to alert both the public and policymakers about the scope of the predicted changes and the effects they would have on natural and economic systems. The first IPCC report was published in 1990, since which time a further four have been produced. The aim of this study was to conduct a content analysis of the IPCC Summaries for Policymakers in order to determine the degree of certainty associated with the statements they contain. For each of the reports we analyzed all statements containing expressions indicating the corresponding level of confidence. The aggregated results show a shift over time towards higher certainty levels, implying a “Call to action” (from 32.8% of statements in IPCC2 to 70.2% in IPCC5). With regard to the international agreements drawn up to tackle climate change, the growing level of confidence expressed in the IPCC Summaries for Policymakers reports might have been a relevant factor in the history of decision making.

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