jillio
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Well, under the old school of thought, nature is ruthless, red with teeth and claws. One can see why the religious have had issues with this. However the religious right are right about Darwin, he did struggle with being an atheist and kinship with apes during the latter half of his life in his letters. But to write such ideas in the Origins of Species was suicidal during Victorian time. So he left it open for interpretation by the scientific community.
However what Dawkins did was find examples where nature isn't as cold and bleak as early evolutionists wrote about, which was a huge contending issue for creationists. He wrote about altruism, mutualism, kinship, symbiotic relationships and the promises it hold for our future. It's sort of a democratic socialist take on Darwinism actually.
Agreed. Even Darwin revised his ideas. Yes, it was suicidal in Victorian times. I have a copy of Origin of Species on my bookshelf, and each time I refer to it it amazes me how revolutionary his thinking was, and how self destructive his decision to publish.