Edward O. Wilson 'S Intelligent Evolution
Edward O. Wilson 'S Intelligent Evolution
Intelligent
Evolution
The consequences of Charles Darwin’s “one long argument”
by Edward O. Wilson
Pellegrino university professor emeritus Edward O. We must acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with
Wilson, a scholarly giant of biodiversity and sociobiology, re- all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the
mains at heart a teacher. His latest lesson concerns the continu- most debased, with benevolence which extends not only
ing consequences of Charles Darwin’s “timeless and consistently to other men but to the humblest living creature, with his
inspirational” science. At a moment when discussion of evolution god-like intellect which has penetrated into the move-
and “intelligent design” preoccupies American political discourse ments and constitution of the solar system—with all
to a surprising degree, shedding more heat than light on the na- these exalted powers—Man still bears in his bodily frame
ture of life and life science, Wilson invites the serious public to the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.
do what far too few of us have done: to read what Darwin wrote. � Charles Darwin
In November, W. W. Norton & Company will publish From So The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871)
Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Charles Darwin. For this sin-
gle, enormous volume, Wilson has selected the versions of, and Great scientific discoveries are like sunrises. They illumi-
written introductions to, each of the iconic texts: The Voyage of the nate first the steeples of the unknown, then its dark hollows.
Beagle (“intellectually the most important travel book Such expansive influence has been enjoyed by the
of all time”); the first edition of On the Origin of Species Crabo cribrarius scientific writings of Charles Darwin. For over 150
(“the greatest scientific book of all time”); The Descent years his books, the four most influential of which
of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (the further step are reprinted here for the first time as a bound
that “Darwin had to take…from the premise that evo- set, have spread light on the living world and
lution is universal”); and The Expression of the Emotions in the human condition. They have not lost their
Man and Animals (“both an old-fashioned descriptive trea- freshness: more than any other work in history’s sci-
tise and the most modern of Darwin’s major works,” which entific canon, they are both timeless and persistently in-
“could serve as a guidebook for novelists”—and “as part of spirational.
the foundation of modern psychology”). The four classics, flowing along one to the next like a
Wilson has also written a general introduction, placing well-wrought narrative, trace the development of Darwin’s
Darwin at the very center of the revolution in modern life thought across almost all of his adult life. The first, Voyage of
science and understanding, and an afterword, on the Beagle (1845), one of literature’s great travel
the “noble yet troubling legacy” that unfolds today books, is richly stocked with observations in nat-
in the collision between religious faith and sci- ural history of the kind that were to guide the
entific humanism. In those essays, reprinted here, young Darwin toward his evolutionary worldview.
Wilson draws on his lifelong immersion in the scientific Next comes the “one long argument,” as he later put it,
enterprise and his study of the foundational Darwinian of On the Origin of Species (1859), arguably history’s most
texts to present his view surrounding these “great unan- influential book. In it the now middle-aged Darwin massively
swered questions of philosophy.” � The Editors documents the evidences of organic evolution and introduces
Published with permission. From So Simple a Beginning: The Four Great Books of Charles Darwin, edited, with introductions,
Harvard Magazine 29
by Edward O. Wilson, will be published in November 2005 by W. W. Norton & Company. Copyright © 2006 by Edward O. Wilson.
the theory of natural selection. The Descent of Man tionary biology would reconstruct its
(1871) then addresses the burning topic foretold in origin and history—how it came to be
On the Origin of Species: “Light will be thrown on the made and its journey thus far.
origin of man and his history.” Finally, The Expression The impact of the theory of evolution by
of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) draws close to natural selection, nowadays grown very sophis-
the heart of the matter that concerns us all: the origin ticated (and often referred to as the Modern Syn-
and nature of mind, the “citadel” that Darwin thesis), has been profound. To the extent it can be
could see but knew that science at the time could upheld, and the evidence to date has done so com-
not conquer. pellingly, we must conclude that life has di-
The adventure that Darwin launched on all versified on Earth autonomously without any
our behalf, and which continues into the kind of external guidance. Evolution in a pure
twenty-first century, is driven by a decep- Darwinian world has no goal or purpose: the
tively simple idea, of which Darwin’s friend exclusive driving force is random mutations
and staunch supporter Thomas Henry Hux- sorted out by natural selection from one gen-
ley said, and spoke for many to follow, “How eration to the next.
extremely stupid of me not to have thought of What then are we to make of the purposes and
that!” Evolution by natural selection is perhaps the goals obviously chosen by human beings? They are,
only one true law unique to biological systems, as in Darwinian interpretation, processes evolved as
opposed to nonliving physical systems, and in re- adaptive devices by an otherwise purposeless nat-
cent decades it has taken on the solidity of a mathe- ural selection. Evolution by natural selection means,
matical theorem. It states simply that if a population finally, that the essential qualities of the human
of organisms contains multiple hereditary variants in mind also evolved autonomously. Humanity was
some trait (say, red versus blue eyes in a bird popula- thus born of Earth. However elevated in power
tion), and if one of these variants succeeds in con- over the rest of life, however exalted in self-image,
tributing more o≠spring to the next generation than we were descended from animals by the same blind
the other variants, the force that created those
overall composition of
the population changes,
All biological processes are ultimately animals, and we remain a
member species of this
and evolution has occurred. obedient to the laws of physics and chemistry, planet’s biosphere.
Further, if new genetic
variants appear regularly and arose through evolution of these The revolution in as-
tronomy begun by Nico-
in the population (by mu-
tation or immigration),
physicochemical systems through natural selection. laus Copernicus in 1543
proved that Earth is not
evolution never ends. Think the center of the universe,
of red-eyed and blue-eyed birds in a breeding nor even the center of the solar system. The revolu-
population, and let the red-eyed birds be better tion begun by Darwin was even more humbling: it
adapted to the environment. The population will showed that humanity is not the center of cre-
in time come to consist mostly or entirely of red-eyed ation, and not its purpose either. But in freeing our
birds. Now let green-eyed mutants appear that are minds from our imagined demigod bondage, even at
even better adapted to the environment than the red- the price of humility, Darwin turned our attention to
eyed form. As a consequence the species eventually be- the astounding power of the natural creative process
comes green-eyed. Evolution has thus taken two and the magnificence of its products:
more small steps. Top: Tragelaphus strepsiceros. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its
The full importance of Darwin’s theory can be bet- Bottom: Sitana minor (male with several powers, having been originally breathed
ter understood by realizing that modern biology is the gular pouch expanded). into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this
guided by two overwhelmingly powerful and creative ideas. The planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of
first is that all biological processes are ultimately obedient to, gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beau-
even though far from fully explained by, the laws of physics and tiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.
chemistry. The second is that all biological processes arose Darwin, On the Origin of Species
through evolution of these physicochemical systems through nat- (first edition, 1859)
ural selection. The first principle is concerned with the how of bi-
ology. The second is concerned with the ways the systems �
adapted to the environment over periods of time long enough for If I lived twenty more years and was able to work, how I
evolution to occur—in other words the why of biology. should have to modify the Origin, and how much the
Knowledge addressing the first principle is called functional views on all points will have to be modified! Well, it is
biology; that addressing the second is called evolutionary biology. a beginning, and that is something.
If a moving automobile were an organism, functional biology � Charles Darwin
would explain how it is constructed and operates, while evolu- Letter to J. D. Hooker, 1869
Harvard Magazine 31
which steadily shrinks as the science of biology expands. sequence the mind originates almost wholly as a result of
In all of the history of science only one other disparity of learning, and it is the product of a culture that itself evolves by
comparable magnitude to evolution has occurred be- historical contingency. Because there is no biologically based
tween a scientific event and the impact it has had on “human nature,” people can be molded to the best possible
the public mind. This was the discovery by Coper- political and economic system, namely,
nicus that Earth and therefore hu- as urged upon the world
manity are not the center of the through most of the twen-
universe, and the universe is tieth century, communism.
not a closed spherical bubble. In practical politics, this
Copernicus delayed publication belief has been repeatedly
of his masterwork On the Revolutions of the tested and, after economic
Heavenly Spheres until the year of his death (1543). collapses and tens of millions of
For his extension of the idea subse- deaths in a dozen dysfunctional
quently, Bruno was burned at the states, is generally deemed a
stake, and for its documentation failure.
Galileo was shown the instru- Both of these worldviews,
ments of torture at Rome and God-centered religion and
remained under house arrest atheistic communism, are
for the remainder of his life. The hereditary responses and opposed by a third and in
Harvard Magazine 33