Rhetoric Vs. Evidence Thought Piece

Rhetoric Vs. Evidence Thought Piece

   Darwin is considered one of the greatest scientists of all time for his theory of evolution. While reading the Descent of Man, however, an alarming pattern emerges. While personal anecdotes and rhetoric are in abundance, there seems to be a lack of scientific evidence to support his argument.

    The use of rhetoric is found throughout the work. Phrases such as "Everyone has seen," "The fact that lower animals are excited by the same emotions as ourselves is so well established that it will not be necessary to weary the reader by many details," "Few persons any longer dispute," are found throughout the text and use the reader's common sense to draw conclusions that may or may not be supported by scientific data. There is no place for rhetoric in modern scientific investigation. Emphasis is placed on empirical evidence and results of experimentation. The use of rhetoric seems to indicate some flaws in the argument that Darwin is attempting to gloss over.

    The personal anecdotes used by Darwin are also troubling. One example of this that occurs frequently in the text is the use of dogs and Darwin's experience with his dog. His dog is mentioned in the sections on sociability, memory, and imagination.

    The issue, of course, is not that anecdotes or single experiences are not useful in terms of examining patterns, however using an incident that happened on a hunting trip to offer evidence of reasoning in animals is not exactly scientific. The text does refer to other documents, which apparently document more closely the studies performed and results gathered, however Darwin's own evidence does not seem to be the result of any prolonged study.

    This evidence seems more typical of a work like Thucidides or a political treatise in which rationality and logic are used more than empirical evidence. These "soft" sciences, history and politics, use this type of evidence because often times it is impossible to conduct experiments to prove conclusions. Darwin's topic, however, contains many aspects that could be tested by the scientific method.

    If this if the type of evidence used, it begs the question, what type of text is The Descent of Man? Is this a scientific work, as most people assume it to be because of the fame of its author? Is this work a treatise of Darwin's own ideas, more literary in nature because of the unproven assumptions he presents? Can these ideas about animals having imaginations, and the difference between levels of rationality in men be proven using the scientific method or are they things we must examine on a more abstract and philosophical level?

    In his introduction, Darwin explains that he had never attempted to apply his principles of evolution to a specific species. His attempt to do so with man is a culmination of information gathered about other types of animals and is used as a test to see if his theories hold up. Was it a mistake to publish this book about a species on which typical experimentation is limited by ethical boundaries? Is it possible that this is as much as Darwin can do given these limits, and thus his hypotheses still stand up to scientific scrutiny?

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