Science on trial: Truth, myth & politics in the evolution debate

Only now can we appreciate in how many different ways the Origin departed from established concepts and how many new directions it opened up. Every modern discussion of man's future, the population explosion, the struggle for existence, the purpose of man and the universe, and man's place in nature rests on Darwin. (Mayr 1975: 7) With these words Ernst Mayr opens his introduction to the facsimile of the first edition of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and thus outlines the dimensions of its significance and place in cultural history. What separates the Origin and its author from many other scientific works of similar importance is the degree to which they have been brought up in public debates and controversies; a trend that has continued to this day. Darwin touched upon essential ideas and values and thus sparked interpretative attempts from outside the natural sciences. The science of evolution was confronted with religious notions and adapted to philosophy and sociology, each discipline trying to gain an upper hand in the struggle for truth and the correct interpretation. While the debate in the natural sciences was largely over by the end of the 1940s with the establishment of Evolutionary Synthesis based on Ernst Mayr and other scientists, the cultural debate came up time and again. Catchwords like Social Darwinism or Cultural Darwinism indicate the transfer of the biological theory to other spheres. Nowadays most of the main religions and denominations have accepted the evolution theory and promote a co-existence of scientific description and religious traditions. However, supporters of a literal understanding of the Bible and other groups have continuously tried to undermine Darwin's theory. The latest form of creationism is intelligent design and it attempts to challenge Darwinism on its home turf, in the field of science.In the course of this essay I will attempt to shed light on the intricate interplay of the different realms and the lines of argumentation that they follow. My analysis develops around Darwin's Origin, beginning with a closer look at the work itself and some of its properties that encouraged controversial ideas. I will then move on to concrete examples where science was put on trial and became an object of social and political powers. [...]