Revisiting the Origin of Species by Thierry Hoquet

Author:Thierry Hoquet [Hoquet, Thierry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, General, Sociology
ISBN: 9780429884191
Google: fwtpDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-08-06T04:45:14+00:00

Argyll and the defence of beauty

Kölliker’s objection is a tenacious one, one that cannot be simply brushed aside. We find the same connection between the utility of parts and the origin of variations in the Duke of Argyll’s criticisms. In his Reign of Law (1867), he observes Darwin trying to come to terms with the magnificent arrangements of orchid flowers.28 From this, he asserts that Darwin is more concerned with answering the question “What is the use of the various parts, or their relation to each other with reference to the purpose of the whole?” than with enquiring “How were those parts made, and out of what materials?” Darwin is more concerned with “the use, object, intention or purpose of the different parts of the plant” than with the inner workings of flower anatomy.29 Darwin is suspected of being interested only in the use, intentions, and purpose of the organism’s various parts, and consequently not paying due attention to the ongoing tinkering within the marvellous apparatus of the orchids. The same reasoning can be maintained using certain passages from the Origin. Thus, we find Argyll quoting both Darwin’s confession that “our ignorance of the laws of variation is profound”, as well as the passage where the role of chance is presented as the mere confession of ignorance.30

If natural selection does operate on materials, then what are they? For Argyll, they are just those changes that are useful in the struggle for existence, since all change that has no utility value goes unaccounted for in the theory:

Strictly speaking, therefore, Mr. Darwin’s theory is not a theory on the Origin of Species at all, but only a theory on the causes which lead to the relative success or failure of such new Forms as may be born into the world.31

These reflections on the role of utility within the economy of the Darwinian system bring to light that Darwinian variation is not just some anatomical modification; it unfolds within a general ecology of relations. It could happen that purely neutral variations (neither useful nor useless) be produced, but natural selection would not apply to them and they would, therefore, from the theory’s perspective, be as though inexistent. In this, we re-encounter the basis for Kölliker’s objection: that Darwin’s world view is teleological because, ultimately, it accounts only for useful variations. For the mechanism of natural selection to be operational, the variation must necessarily involve some value and this value must lead to some adaptation. Thus, Darwin’s oversight is twofold: not only does he not account for the origin of variations (natural selection doesn’t originate anything), but even among the variations produced (originated through potential laws which he does not speak of), he pays attention only to those that are more or less useful.

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