This came first upon me when I spent a month or two in London with my brother John. Dale Owen's conclusion, that the orthodox religion of the day was degrading and hideous." Also: ".what little religious belief I had very quickly vanished under the influence of philosophical or scientific scepticism. Of course this has nothing to do with dogmatic religion, but only with those great ethical principles which have always formed part of religious teaching, and whose influence is in great part due to it." In 1905, in volume one of his autobiography My Life, he wrote: "My brother never went to church himself, but for the first few years I was with him he sent me once every Sunday but, of course, the only effect of this was to deepen my spirit of scepticism, as I found no attempt in any of the clergymen to reason on any of the fundamental questions at the root of the Christian and every other religion." Also: " I therefore thoroughly agreed with Mr. has been one of the most important agencies in social development, and is closely bound up with that portion of our nature to which all recent social advance is due, and which will inevitably decide the course of our future progress. notwithstanding the gross perversion of his teaching by priests and rulers-of supreme value." In an 1894 book review ( S496) he noted ". In 1865 he wrote, in a letter to his friend George Rolleston, "I look upon the doctrine of future rewards and punishments as a motive to action to be radically bad, and as bad for savages as for civilized men.I cannot see that the teaching of all this can be furthered by the dogmas of any religion, and I do not believe that those dogmas really have any effect in advancing morality in one case out of a thousand." In 1908, replying ( S664) to an inquiry, he wrote: "But as one who from boyhood till middle age was a confirmed materialist, and in his later life has become a confirmed spiritualist-but at no time a believer in dogmatic Christianity-my growing impression of late years has been that Jesus of Nazareth. But let us see what he himself had to say about the matter. Was Wallace's memory as bad as some sources have made out?Īnd Darwin's ideas on evolution, as distinct from natural selection?Īnswer: Wallace has been labeled a Christian by some observers, in good part because he grew up in a religiously fairly orthodox, though not very strictly observing, Church of England household.Reject some of Wallace's most famous ideas on biogeography? Were Wallace's attempts at social criticism and theorizing? On friendly personal and professional terms? Vis-a-vis the Linnean Society presentation? Presentation of the natural selection concept to the Linnean Society? Wallace to complete his theory of natural selection?Īnd did this lead to his adoption of spiritualism? When Darwin published On the Origin of Species? Was Wallace really an anti-vaccinationist,.What were Wallace's "three stages in the development of the living universe"?.Of mind" regarding the applicability of natural selection to Did Wallace believe in intelligent design?.What was the basis for Wallace's incorporation of spiritualism into his evolutionary model?.What were Wallace's thoughts on 'God' as a causal factor in evolution?.Why are so many of the Wallace-related comments seen on the Internet, or even in published academic journals, so wildly inaccurate?. Was Wallace really happy with the treatment he received with respect to the handling and publication of his Ternate essay on natural selection?.What did Wallace actually mean when he used the term 'supernatural'?.Link directly to this page, connect with. The item entry numbers in the 'Wallace Bibliography' section. On Wallace' section at this site the "S" numbers given refer to The literature cited is identified in the 'Writings Is not always easy!), to some frequently-posed questions about his I attempt to reply, as briefly and candidly as possible (and this Responses to Questions Frequently Asked About WallaceĬonsiderably as a result of incomplete scholarship, biased presuppositions,Īnd misinformation-introducing axe-grinding. Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace ( sic)
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