The debate took place in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
The 1860 Oxford evolution debate took place at the Oxford University Museum in Oxford, England, on 30 June 1860, seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species.[1] Several prominent British scientists and philosophers participated, including Thomas Henry Huxley, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Benjamin Brodie, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Robert FitzRoy.[1]
The encounter is often known as the Huxley–Wilberforce debate or the Wilberforce–Huxley debate, although this description is somewhat misleading. It was not a formal debate between the two, but rather it was an animated discussion after the presentation of a paper by John William Draper of New York University, on the intellectual development of Europe with relation to Darwin's theory (one of a number of scientific papers presented during the week as part of the British Association's annual meeting).[2] Although Huxley and Wilberforce were not the only participants in the discussion, they were reported to be the two dominant parties.[2]
The debate is best remembered today for a heated exchange in which Wilberforce supposedly asked Huxley whether it was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey.[3] Huxley is said to have replied that he would not be ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor, but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth.[3] However, what Huxley and Wilberforce actually said is uncertain,[3][4][5] and subsequent accounts were subject to distortion[6] since no verbatim account of the debate exists.[1] One eyewitness suggests that Wilberforce's question to Huxley may have been "whether, in the vast shaky state of the law of development, as laid down by Darwin, any one can be so enamoured of this so-called law, or hypothesis, as to go into jubilation for his great great grandfather having been an ape or a gorilla?",[7] whereas another suggests he may have said that "it was of little consequence to himself whether or not his grandfather might be called a monkey or not."[8]
^ abcCite error: The named reference thomson was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ abOxford Chronicle, 7 July 1860. See also the recent essay by James C. Ungureanu, "A Yankee at Oxford: John William Draper at the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford, 30 June 1860," Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal for the History of Science, (2015).
^ abcLucas, J. R. (1979). "Wilberforce and Huxley: a legendary encounter". The Historical Journal. 22 (2): 313–330. doi:10.1017/S0018246X00016848. PMID 11617072. S2CID 19198585. Archived from the original on 10 April 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2008.
^Cite error: The named reference brooke was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Frank A. J. L. James (2005). "An 'open clash between science and the church'? Wilberforce, Huxley and Hooker on Darwin at the British Association, Oxford, 1960". In David M. Knight & Matthew D. Eddy (ed.). Science and Beliefs: From Natural Philosophy to Natural Selection. Ashgate. pp. 171–193. ISBN 978-0-7546-3996-1.
^Numbers, Ronald, ed. (2009). Galileo Goes to Jail and Other Myths about Science and Religion. Harvard University Press. p. 155. ISBN 9780674033276.
^The Morning Chronicle, 9 July 1860. The writer of the letter calls himself "Harpocrates".
^Glasgow Herald, 4 July 1860. The writer of the letter is identified as "a well-known townsman" called "J.S."
and 27 Related for: 1860 Oxford evolution debate information
Committee... British Association. Alfred Newton Lecture T.H. Huxley 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate Reaction to Darwin's theory William Henry Flower X Club Journal...
advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stories regarding Huxley's famous 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate with Samuel Wilberforce were a key moment...
Charles Blondin crosses Niagara Falls on a tightrope. 1860 – The 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History takes place...
mid-19th century, evolution by natural selection has been established by the scientific community as an empirical scientific fact. Any such debate is universally...
America Jacob Henry Studer begins studying the birds of Ohio. 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate Alfred Brehm undertakes an expedition to Norway and Lapland Johann...
took his name off their books in 1860. Two years later, Henry Fawcett reportedly attended the 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate, during which he was asked whether...
and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in 1860 (see the 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate). Although it is often described as a "debate", the exchange occurred after the...
June 30 – In the 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate, Samuel Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley debate the theories of Charles Darwin at the Oxford University Museum...
gene-centred view of evolution rose to prominence in the 1960s, followed by the neutral theory of molecular evolution, sparking debates over adaptationism...
for the Advancement of Science meeting featuring the legendary 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate. In two years of acrimonious public dispute that Charles Kingsley...
Account of the 1860debate, American Scientist. Ian Hesketh (3 October 2009). Of Apes and Ancestors: Evolution, Christianity, and the OxfordDebate. University...
evolution, Natural Selection is not inconsistent with natural theology. The most famous confrontation was at the public 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate during...
Darwin had more stomach upsets, and on 28 June 1860, two days before the famous 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate, he fled to Lane's new hydropathic establishment...
remembered for his opposition to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution at a debate in 1860. He was born at Clapham Common, London, the fifth child of William...
Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution), alternatively called evolutionary creationism, is a view that God acts...
involves the famous 1860Oxfordevolutiondebate between Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce concerning Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The Fall of Doctor...
"Christian evolution" was becoming the consensus. In Britain, while publication of The Descent of Man by Darwin in 1871 reinvigorated debate from the previous...
"TIMELINE: Evolution, Creationism and Intelligent Design" – Focuses on major historical and recent events in the scientific and political debate "Evolution and...
official position on the theory of creation or evolution, leaving the specifics of either theistic evolution or literal creationism to the individual within...
Constitutional Development in the South Atlantic States, 1776–1860: A Study in the Evolution of Democracy. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North...
Crawfurd were opponents of Darwin, monogenism became part of a larger debate on evolution. Polygenism, in its biological form, asserted that different races...
heated dispute lasting three years developed over human evolution, Kingsley gently satirised the debate, known as the Great Hippocampus Question, as the "Great...
Global Information