Owen's Ape and Darwin's Bulldog: Beyond Darwinism and Creationism Book

"A fascinating new look at the Owen-Huxley controversy [that] gives us important insight into a hitherto thinly discussed aspect of the Darwinian Revolution." -Michael Ruse, author of Darwinism and Its Discontents "As the present changes, so does the past. We used to know that T. H. Huxley crushed Richard Owen's effort to show that humans could not have evolved from ape-like predecessors. In his lucid analysis of the ferocious debate between Darwin's defender and his nemesis, Cosans forces us to alter our presumption. . . . His splendid achievement not only causes us to reassess our historical beliefs but to reform our conception of the scientific enterprise." -Robert J. Richards, Morris Fishbein Professor of the History of Science, The University of Chicago With the debate between Richard Owen and Thomas Huxley on the differences between the ape and human brains as its focus, this book explores some of the ways in which philosophical ideas and scientific practice influenced the discussion of evolution in the years before and after Darwin's publication of "Origin of Species" in 1859. It also shows how this episode can shed light on current philosophical notions of scientific practice and how they in turn influence our understanding of the history of science. The book advances the current historical discussion of the Owen-Huxley debate by making clear that Owen's anatomical claims had much more support than most historians and philosophers of science assume.Read More