I have seen the foolish taking root...
Job 5:3
"Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) expressed his belief in deep time
extending over millions of years, and a form of evolution, in his written works: for instance, The Temple of Nature, The Botanic Garden, and Zoonomia. Mention of millions of years in Erasmus Darwin’s works appears in the Philosophical Notes to The Botanic Garden (1791).
He was also an open advocate of the pagan beliefs of ancient Greece and Rome, was a leading Freemason, and used Rosicrucian imagery. In Zoonomia, first published in 1794, he spoke of the “magnificent idea of the infinite power of THE GREAT ARCHITECT! THE CAUSE OF CAUSES!”, and asked whether it would
Darwin’s family motto was E Conchis Omnia, meaning “everything from shells”, and he used the image of a scallop shell on the family crest, for a time painted on his carriage.
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the goddess of love (the Roman Venus), was often depicted riding the ocean upon a scallop shell.
In The Temple of Nature, Erasmus Darwin spoke of the goddess Venus in terms of an allegory for evolution: “Amazed the Sea’s prolific depths I view, And VENUS rising from the waves in YOU! … . Her beaux and beauties, butterflies and worms, Rise from aquatic to aerial forms.” In the footnote there is the comment: “Venus seems to have represented the beauty of organic Nature rising from the sea … .”
So, it may be seen that Erasmus Darwin read Venus/Aphrodite as an allegory for evolution occurring as a result of generating powers, and a similar view may have been held by Hume.
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) later developed the ideas in Zoonomia along more Epicurean lines, removing the overt paganism of his grandfather.
Erasmus Darwin expressed some qualified support to Hutton’s scientific work, calling it ‘ingenious’. He understood that Hutton’s Theory of the Earth advocated an eternal universe: “according to the ingenious theory of Dr Hutton, who says new continents are now forming at the bottom of the sea to rise in their turn, and that thus the terraqueous globe has been, and will be, eternal?”
CMI
Job 5:3
"Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802) expressed his belief in deep time
He was also an open advocate of the pagan beliefs of ancient Greece and Rome, was a leading Freemason, and used Rosicrucian imagery. In Zoonomia, first published in 1794, he spoke of the “magnificent idea of the infinite power of THE GREAT ARCHITECT! THE CAUSE OF CAUSES!”, and asked whether it would
“… be too bold to imagine, that in the great length of time, since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind, would it be too bold to imagine, that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which THE GREAT FIRST CAUSE endued with animality …”.Such statements in his works relating to millions of ages and the deity of freemasonry seem to echo Voltaire’s earlier reference to the Great Architect, and millions of years of change: “Revolutions of thousands of millions of years are infinitely less in the light of the Great Architect of Nature, than to us that of a wheel which compleats its round in the twinkling of an eye.”
Darwin’s family motto was E Conchis Omnia, meaning “everything from shells”, and he used the image of a scallop shell on the family crest, for a time painted on his carriage.
In Greek mythology, Aphrodite, the goddess of love (the Roman Venus), was often depicted riding the ocean upon a scallop shell.
In The Temple of Nature, Erasmus Darwin spoke of the goddess Venus in terms of an allegory for evolution: “Amazed the Sea’s prolific depths I view, And VENUS rising from the waves in YOU! … . Her beaux and beauties, butterflies and worms, Rise from aquatic to aerial forms.” In the footnote there is the comment: “Venus seems to have represented the beauty of organic Nature rising from the sea … .”
So, it may be seen that Erasmus Darwin read Venus/Aphrodite as an allegory for evolution occurring as a result of generating powers, and a similar view may have been held by Hume.
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) later developed the ideas in Zoonomia along more Epicurean lines, removing the overt paganism of his grandfather.
Erasmus Darwin expressed some qualified support to Hutton’s scientific work, calling it ‘ingenious’. He understood that Hutton’s Theory of the Earth advocated an eternal universe: “according to the ingenious theory of Dr Hutton, who says new continents are now forming at the bottom of the sea to rise in their turn, and that thus the terraqueous globe has been, and will be, eternal?”
CMI
