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The 1860 Oxford evolution debate took place at the Oxford University Museum in Oxford, England, on 30 June 1860, seven months after the publication of Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species''.〔 Several prominent British scientists and philosophers participated, including Thomas Henry Huxley, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, Benjamin Brodie, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Robert FitzRoy.〔 The debate is best remembered today for a heated exchange in which Wilberforce supposedly asked Huxley whether it was through his grandfather or his grandmother that he claimed his descent from a monkey. Huxley is said to have replied that he would not be ashamed to have a monkey for his ancestor, but he would be ashamed to be connected with a man who used his great gifts to obscure the truth.〔 One eyewitness suggests that Wilberforce's question to Huxley may have been "whether, in the vast shaky state of the law of development, as laid down by Darwin, any one can be so enamoured of this so-called law, or hypothesis, as to go into jubilation for his great great grandfather having been an ape or a gorilla?",〔''The Morning Chronicle'', 9 July 1860. The writer of the letter calls himself "Harpocrates".〕 whereas another suggests he may have said that "it was of little consequence to himself whether or not his grandfather might be called a monkey or not."〔''Glasgow Herald'', 4 July 1860. The writer of the letter is identified as "a well-known townsman" called "J.S."〕 The encounter is often known as the Huxley–Wilberforce debate or the Wilberforce–Huxley debate, although this description is somewhat misleading. Rather than being a formal debate between the two, it was actually an animated discussion that occurred after the presentation of a paper by John William Draper of New York University, on the intellectual development of Europe with relation to Darwin's theory (one of a number of scientific papers presented during the week as part of the British Association's annual meeting).〔Oxford Chronicle, 7 July 1860.〕 Although Huxley and Wilberforce were not the only participants in the discussion, they were reported to be the two dominant parties.〔 No verbatim account of the debate exists,〔 and there is considerable uncertainty regarding what Huxley and Wilberforce actually said.〔〔 ==Background== The idea of transmutation of species was very controversial in the first half of the nineteenth century, seen as contrary to religious orthodoxy and a threat to the social order, but welcomed by Radicals seeking to widen democracy and overturn the aristocratic hierarchy. The anonymous publication of ''Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation'' in 1844 brought a storm of controversy, but attracted a wide readership and became a bestseller. At the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting at Oxford in May 1847, the Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce used his Sunday sermon at St. Mary's Church on "the wrong way of doing science" to deliver a stinging attack obviously aimed at its author, Robert Chambers, in a church "crowded to suffocation" with geologists, astronomers and zoologists. The scientific establishment remained hostile to the ideas, but the book had converted a vast popular audience. Charles Darwin's ''On the Origin of Species'' was published on 24 November 1859 to wide debate and controversy. The influential biologist Richard Owen wrote an extremely hostile anonymous review of the book in the ''Edinburgh Review'',〔. Published anonymously.〕 and also coached Wilberforce, who wrote an anonymous 17,000-word review in the ''Quarterly Review''.〔. Published anonymously.〕 Thomas Huxley, who was one of the small group with whom Darwin had shared his theory before publication, emerged as the main champion of evolution. He wrote a favourable review of the ''Origin'' in ''The Times'' in December 1859, along with several other articles and a lecture at the Royal Institution in February 1860. The reaction of orthodox churchmen was hostile, but their attention was diverted in February 1860 by a much greater furore over the publication of ''Essays and Reviews'' by seven liberal theologians. Amongst them, the Reverend Baden Powell had already praised evolutionary ideas, and in his essay he commended "Mr. Darwin's masterly volume" for substantiating "the grand principle of the self-evolving powers of nature".〔 The controversy was at the centre of attention when the British Association for the Advancement of Science (often referred to then simply as "the BA") convened their annual meeting at the new Oxford University Museum of Natural History in June 1860. On Thursday 28 June, Charles Daubeny read a paper "On the final causes of the sexuality in plants, with particular reference to Mr. Darwin's work ..."〔 Owen and Huxley were both in attendance, and a debate erupted over Darwin's theory.〔 Owen spoke of facts which would enable the public to "come to some conclusions ... of the truth of Mr. Darwin's theory", and repeated an anatomical argument which he had first presented in 1857, that "the brain of the gorilla was more different from that of man than from that of the lowest primate particularly because only man had a posterior lobe, a posterior horn, and a hippocampus minor." Huxley was convinced this was incorrect, and had researched its errors. For the first time he spoke publicly on this point, and "denied altogether that the difference between the brain of the gorilla and man was so great" in a "direct and unqualified contradiction" of Owen, citing previous studies as well as promising to provide detailed support for his position. Wilberforce agreed to address the meeting on Saturday morning, and there was expectation that he would repeat his success at scourging evolutionary ideas as at the 1847 meeting. Huxley was initially reluctant to engage Wilberforce in a public debate about evolution, but Robert Chambers persuaded him not to desert the cause.〔〔 The Reverend Baden Powell would have been on the platform, but he had died of a heart attack on 11 June.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1860 Oxford evolution debate」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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