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Teachers' Resource Web Study Questions on Charles Darwin Voyage of the Beagle, Origin of Species, Descent of Man "Tierra del Fuego," Ch. 10 from The Voyage of the Beagle 1. The HMS Beagle set sail in 1831 with a commission to explore the South American coast and compile longitudinal data. As a naturalist, Darwin had the task of cataloging the region's flora and fauna. To see how he carries out this task when dealing with the Fuegian tribes, make a list of Fuegian (i.e. "savage") qualities and list their "civilized" opposites in a second column. Why might a modern anthropologist trained in the study of comparative culture find such binary categorizations disturbing? 2. Compare and contrast Darwin's attitude and his method of observation when he describes the natural environment of Tierra del Fuego and when he discusses the Beagle crew's contacts with the region's human inhabitants. 3. Do Darwin's accounts of Fuegian cannibalism and other misbehavior sound convincing to you? If those accounts are not accurate, how might Darwin have come to believe in them and present them to his readers as the truth? "Struggle for Existence," Ch. 3 from The Origin of Species 1. What is natural selection? How does it compare to the kind of selection that humans have long practiced on domestic animals? Incidentally, what to you think Darwin would say about today's experiments with cloning--would he approve? 2. How does Darwin define his term "Struggle for Existence," and why must this struggle take place--what "checks to increase" cause hardship for animals? 3. On the whole, what perspective on or attitude toward Nature emerges in this chapter? If you had to personify (give human characteristics to) Darwin's Nature, what terms would you use to describe how it treats animal life on earth? "The Moral Sense," Chapter 4 from The Descent of Man 1. Contrast Darwin's ideas about humans' "social instincts" to those of John Stuart Mill. Especially important here is Darwin's footnote about Mill early in the chapter. 2. To follow up on this question, what reason does Darwin give for the development of the social instincts in humankind? 3. Describe Darwin's account of the development of the moral sense. 4. Does Darwin's account of man's moral evolution strip him of the right to use the term "morality" in the older, religious sense, that of an absolute standard of right and wrong behavior? 5. Is Darwin an optimist, a believer in progress? Pay attention to his rhetorical emphasis in this chapter--does he believe that humanity is already at a high stage of development and that it may evolve to an even higher intellectual or moral plateau? Alternative Questions for "The Moral Sense," Chapter 4 from The Descent of Man 1. Draw a line of development from natural selection to "the moral sense." How, in other words, did the moral sense develop? 2. What exactly is the moral sense, according to Darwin? How does he enlist Kant and Marcus Aurelius in providing his definition? 3. How do people usually understand Darwin's concept of evolution? How does Darwin's social theory in The Descent of Man differ from this harsh conception? So do you think that Darwin, as a cultural analyst, is an optimist or a pessimist? 4. Why is Darwin so determined to link the behavior of animals to the development and behavior of humans? What hopes does he pin upon the continuing operation of "instinct"? "The Races of Man," Chapter 7 from The Descent of Man: 1. How careful a scientist is Darwin? Does he treat the arguments of others at length and fairly? Does he make a good case for his own ideas about human races? 2. Does Darwin accept the notion that there are differences in intellect among the various races? "General Summary," Chapter 21 from The Descent of Man: 1. Try to explain the importance of "sexual selection" in Darwin's scheme. 2. Find passages in which Darwin seems to be borrowing from the discipline of political economy. Does he sometimes sound like a "social Darwinist"? Where? 3. What are your thoughts concerning the last few pages of the "General Summary"? Here, Darwin describes his feelings upon landing in Tierra del Fuego with the other members of the Beagle Expedition. |