Saving Darwin

To the Editors of The Crimson:

God save Darwin and his adherents from journalists! Recently, Professor Stephen J. Gould had a talk at Hillel on the role of individuals in evolution. The note in [that] Saturday's edition of The Crimson (November 2) summarized the main topics fairly. The main problem, however, was the headline, "Gould Suggests Darwin Revisions", which was not only misleading in this particular case, but also may be connected somehow with the surprising unpopularity of Darwin's theory of evolution in certain lay circles. These circles are always eager to greet with applause any apparent weakness of this theory. It is regrettable, therefore, that so often the slightest remark of a lecturer on the necessity of expanding our view of evolution immediately evokes comments from journalists about the inexorable demise of Darwinisn. The reader is left then with the impression that all is not well with the Darwininan theory of evolution.

My objections are twofold. First, the headline declares that Darwinism needs revision, which implies that it is wrong. Second, such a statement is attributed to Sephen J. Gould. In fact, neither implication is accurate. The theory of evolution by means of natural selection has been flourishing for the last two decades and at present is better off than at any time before. The triumphant march of Darwinism across the fields of biology and through the quagmires of social science has been advanced by, among others, Professor Gould himself. Gould's indefatigable efforts to present Darwin's views to the public (see his monthly essays in Natural History magazine gathered together in Ever Since Darwin and its sequels) disprove the attempts to place him in the camp of "Darwinian revisionists." Apart from his public activities, Professor Gould also seeks, through his scientific investigations, to extend and generalize Darwinian theory, rather than to revise it.

The current theory of evolution is a broader concept than Darwinism and it is the former that may be subject to revisions. The mechanism of adaptive evolution, i.e. Darwinian natural selection, however does not need to be revised. May Darwin sleep quietly. Michael Jasienski, G1   Department of Organismic   and Evolutionary Biology