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{{cquote|In 1885, the Duke of Argyll recounted a conversation he had had with Charles Darwin the year before Darwin's death:  

{{cquote|In 1885, the Duke of Argyll recounted a conversation he had had with Charles Darwin the year before Darwin's death:  

In the course of that conversation I said to Mr. Darwin, with reference to some of his own remarkable works on the Fertilisation of [[Orchid]]s, and upon The [[Earthworm]]s, and various other observations he made of the wonderful contrivances for certain purposes in nature—I said it was impossible to look at these without seeing that they were the effect and the expression of Mind. I shall never forget Mr. Darwin's answer. He looked at me very hard and said, “Well, that often comes over me with overwhelming force; but at other times,” and he shook his head vaguely, adding, “it seems to go away.”(Argyll 1885, 244) <ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleological-arguments/notes.html</ref>}}

In the course of that conversation I said to Mr. Darwin, with reference to some of his own remarkable works on the Fertilisation of [[Orchid]]s, and upon The [[Earthworm]]s, and various other observations he made of the wonderful contrivances for certain purposes in nature—I said it was impossible to look at these without seeing that they were the effect and the expression of Mind. I shall never forget Mr. Darwin's answer. He looked at me very hard and said, “Well, that often comes over me with overwhelming force; but at other times,” and he shook his head vaguely, adding, “it seems to go away.”(Argyll 1885, 244)<ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleological-arguments/notes.html</ref>}}

Perhaps the best explanation of Darwin's worldview from 1836 onwards was that Darwin was a [[weak atheism|weak atheist]]/[[agnosticism|agnostic]] who often had overwhelming thoughts that nature was the product of a mind.<ref>[http://www.equip.org/articles/is-darwinism-atheistic- Is Darwinism Atheistic? An Examination of the Beliefs and Practices of Charles Darwin]</ref><ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleological-arguments/notes.html</ref><ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=j9MEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=Dr.+Aveling+has+published+an+account+of+a+conversation+with+my+father.+I+think+that+the+readers+of+this+pamphlet+(%27The+Religious+Views+of+Charles+Darwin,%27+Free+Thought+Publishing+Company,+1883)+may+be+misled+into+seeing+more+resemblance+than+really+existed&source=web&ots=-eyumeD-3g&sig=V1ooJ7WLHqu1csnVz39scxdV4Mg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result</ref>

Perhaps the best explanation of Darwin's worldview from 1836 onwards was that Darwin was a [[weak atheism|weak atheist]]/[[agnosticism|agnostic]] who often had overwhelming thoughts that nature was the product of a mind.<ref>[http://www.equip.org/articles/is-darwinism-atheistic- Is Darwinism Atheistic? An Examination of the Beliefs and Practices of Charles Darwin]</ref><ref>http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/teleological-arguments/notes.html</ref><ref>https://books.google.com/books?id=j9MEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=Dr.+Aveling+has+published+an+account+of+a+conversation+with+my+father.+I+think+that+the+readers+of+this+pamphlet+(%27The+Religious+Views+of+Charles+Darwin,%27+Free+Thought+Publishing+Company,+1883)+may+be+misled+into+seeing+more+resemblance+than+really+existed&source=web&ots=-eyumeD-3g&sig=V1ooJ7WLHqu1csnVz39scxdV4Mg&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result</ref>

{{cquote|It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science.<ref>http://www.christianitytoday.com/books/features/bccorner/020204.html</ref>}}   

{{cquote|It appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against Christianity and theism produce hardly any effect on the public; and freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds which follows from the advance of science.<ref>http://www.christianitytoday.com/books/features/bccorner/020204.html</ref>}}   

According to Charles Darwin the "manifestly false history of the world" <ref>ibid. Barlow 1958:85.</ref> as recorded in the Old Testament and New Testament miracles led him to reject Biblical veracity.<ref>ibid. Barlow 1958:85-87.</ref> Eminent Darwin biographer, Professor Janet Browne, sums up Darwin's views concerning religion: Darwin "mapped out a comparative evolution of the religious sense, proposing that religious belief was ultimately nothing more than a primitive urge to bestow a cause on otherwise inexplicable natural events...In short, he made no secret of his view that he did not believe religion to have any rational foundation at all".<ref>Browne, Janet  ''Charles Darwin The Power of Place'' 2002:341</ref> When he died in 1882 at the age of seventy-three, Darwin was buried at Westminster Abbey next to Sir [[Isaac Newton]].

According to Charles Darwin the "manifestly false history of the world"<ref>ibid. Barlow 1958:85.</ref> as recorded in the Old Testament and New Testament miracles led him to reject Biblical veracity.<ref>ibid. Barlow 1958:85-87.</ref> Eminent Darwin biographer, Professor Janet Browne, sums up Darwin's views concerning religion: Darwin "mapped out a comparative evolution of the religious sense, proposing that religious belief was ultimately nothing more than a primitive urge to bestow a cause on otherwise inexplicable natural events...In short, he made no secret of his view that he did not believe religion to have any rational foundation at all".<ref>Browne, Janet  ''Charles Darwin The Power of Place'' 2002:341</ref> When he died in 1882 at the age of seventy-three, Darwin was buried at Westminster Abbey next to Sir [[Isaac Newton]].

There exists in hostile Darwin literature a story about a Christian called Lady Hope who visited and spoke with a dying Charles Darwin.  This appears to be merely a legend, and there is no evidence that Lady Hope ever converted or even visited Darwin on his deathbed.<ref>http://www.carm.org/evo_questions/deathbed.htm</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/03/31/darwins-deathbed-conversion-legend</ref>

There exists in hostile Darwin literature a story about a Christian called Lady Hope who visited and spoke with a dying Charles Darwin.  This appears to be merely a legend, and there is no evidence that Lady Hope ever converted or even visited Darwin on his deathbed.<ref>http://www.carm.org/evo_questions/deathbed.htm</ref><ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/03/31/darwins-deathbed-conversion-legend</ref>

In addition, Dennis Sewell declared cornering the Darwin family:

In addition, Dennis Sewell declared cornering the Darwin family:

{{cquote|[In the] years leading up to the First World War, the eugenics movement looked like a Darwin family business. … Darwin’s son Leonard replaced his cousin Galton as chairman of the national Eugenics Society in 1911. In the same year an offshoot of the society was formed in Cambridge. Among its leading members were three more of Charles Darwin’s sons, Horace, Francis and George.” <ref>[https://creation.com/eugenics-a-darwin-family-business Eugenics: “a Darwin family business”]</ref>}}

{{cquote|[In the] years leading up to the First World War, the eugenics movement looked like a Darwin family business. … Darwin’s son Leonard replaced his cousin Galton as chairman of the national Eugenics Society in 1911. In the same year an offshoot of the society was formed in Cambridge. Among its leading members were three more of Charles Darwin’s sons, Horace, Francis and George.”<ref>[https://creation.com/eugenics-a-darwin-family-business Eugenics: “a Darwin family business”]</ref>}}

== Darwin's obsessive preoccupation with his public persona and reactions to criticism ==

== Darwin's obsessive preoccupation with his public persona and reactions to criticism ==

For more on this topic see: [[Charles Darwin's illness]]

For more on this topic see: [[Charles Darwin's illness]]

For most of his adult life, Charles Darwin suffered from very poor health.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i4/darwins_illness.asp</ref> The 1992 ''New Encyclopaedia Britannica'' stated that Darwin's illness was psychogenic in origin (A psychogenic illness is one that originates in the mind or in mental condition).<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i4/darwins_illness.asp</ref> A 1997 article in the [[Journal of the American Medical Association]] entitled "Charles Darwin and Panic Disorder" states that the "variable intensity of symptoms and chronic, prolonged course without physical deterioration also indicate that his illness was [[Psychiatry|psychiatric]]." <ref>''Charles Darwin and Panic Disorder''" by Thomas J. Barloon, MD and Russel Noyes, Jr., January 8, 1997 ''Journal of the American Medical Association''</ref> With regard to illness associated with evolutionary ideas, a journal article in the ''American Journal of Medicine'' declares that Darwin suffered from "psychoneurosis provoked and exaggerated by his [[theory of evolution|evolutionary]] ideas".<ref>"The Illness of Charles Darwin", William B. Bean, September 1978, American Journal of Medicine</ref>  The American Journal of Medicine article also declared that Darwin's wife, Emma, greatly disapproved of his evolutionist ideas and "This, facsimile of public reaction, must have kept lively his anxiety and torment".<ref>"The Illness of Charles Darwin", William B. Bean, September 1978, American Journal of Medicine</ref> According to the abstract for a 1997 journal article in the ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society'' the psychogenic hypothesis for the origin of Darwin's illness "holds the field" but the article questions the validity of this diagnosis and mentions the work of Ralph Colp Jr. MD, a physician and psychiatrist (For details see: [[Darwin's Sickness]]).<ref>http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/c5la8dhfh8v7tbx8/</ref><ref>http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/20hist06.htm</ref>  

For most of his adult life, Charles Darwin suffered from very poor health.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i4/darwins_illness.asp</ref> The 1992 ''New Encyclopaedia Britannica'' stated that Darwin's illness was psychogenic in origin (A psychogenic illness is one that originates in the mind or in mental condition).<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i4/darwins_illness.asp</ref> A 1997 article in the [[Journal of the American Medical Association]] entitled "Charles Darwin and Panic Disorder" states that the "variable intensity of symptoms and chronic, prolonged course without physical deterioration also indicate that his illness was [[Psychiatry|psychiatric]]."<ref>''Charles Darwin and Panic Disorder''" by Thomas J. Barloon, MD and Russel Noyes, Jr., January 8, 1997 ''Journal of the American Medical Association''</ref> With regard to illness associated with evolutionary ideas, a journal article in the ''American Journal of Medicine'' declares that Darwin suffered from "psychoneurosis provoked and exaggerated by his [[theory of evolution|evolutionary]] ideas".<ref>"The Illness of Charles Darwin", William B. Bean, September 1978, American Journal of Medicine</ref>  The American Journal of Medicine article also declared that Darwin's wife, Emma, greatly disapproved of his evolutionist ideas and "This, facsimile of public reaction, must have kept lively his anxiety and torment".<ref>"The Illness of Charles Darwin", William B. Bean, September 1978, American Journal of Medicine</ref> According to the abstract for a 1997 journal article in the ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society'' the psychogenic hypothesis for the origin of Darwin's illness "holds the field" but the article questions the validity of this diagnosis and mentions the work of Ralph Colp Jr. MD, a physician and psychiatrist (For details see: [[Darwin's Sickness]]).<ref>http://www.journals.royalsoc.ac.uk/content/c5la8dhfh8v7tbx8/</ref><ref>http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/20hist06.htm</ref>  

Given Darwin's likely psychogenic or psychobiological illness, various [[Creationism|creationists]] have stated that Darwin's illness was the result of guilt and/or fear.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i4/darwins_illness.asp</ref><ref>http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/20hist06.htm</ref>

Given Darwin's likely psychogenic or psychobiological illness, various [[Creationism|creationists]] have stated that Darwin's illness was the result of guilt and/or fear.<ref>http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v17/i4/darwins_illness.asp</ref><ref>http://www.pathlights.com/ce_encyclopedia/Encyclopedia/20hist06.htm</ref>

A look at some of Darwin's writing reveals that he sometimes did not think himself that intelligent, and that he had strong misanthropic tendencies. "‎I am very poorly today and very stupid." he wrote, "and [I] hate everybody and everything."  

A look at some of Darwin's writing reveals that he sometimes did not think himself that intelligent, and that he had strong misanthropic tendencies. "‎I am very poorly today and very stupid." he wrote, "and [I] hate everybody and everything."  

One of Darwin's biographers characterized him as "'nerdy [and] prone to anxiety'....He was not quick, witty, or social. He spent decades working out his ideas, slowly, mostly by himself, writing letters and tending to a weak heart and a constantly upset stomach. He was a Slow Processor, who soaked in the data, thought, stared, tried to make sense of what he was seeing, hoping for a breakthrough. All around were snappier brains, busy being dazzling, but not Darwin's, which just plodded on..." <ref>[https://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/10/18/163181524/charles-darwin-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day]</ref>

One of Darwin's biographers characterized him as "'nerdy [and] prone to anxiety'....He was not quick, witty, or social. He spent decades working out his ideas, slowly, mostly by himself, writing letters and tending to a weak heart and a constantly upset stomach. He was a Slow Processor, who soaked in the data, thought, stared, tried to make sense of what he was seeing, hoping for a breakthrough. All around were snappier brains, busy being dazzling, but not Darwin's, which just plodded on..."<ref>[https://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/10/18/163181524/charles-darwin-and-the-terrible-horrible-no-good-very-bad-day]</ref>

== Social effects of the theory of evolution ==

== Social effects of the theory of evolution ==

*[[Social effects of the theory of evolution ]]

*[[Social effects of the theory of evolution ]]

One of the regrettable consequences of Charles Darwin’s ''On the Origin of Species'' was the advent of the [[pseudoscience]] known as [[geopolitics]].<ref>[https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/geopolitics-ill-suited-for-challenges-of-today-endangers-global-economy-by-robert-skidelsky-2023-06 The Costly Return of Geopolitics], Robert Skidelsky, Jun 19, 2023. www.project-syndicate.org</ref> <ref>[https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=User:Conservative%27s_essays&oldid=2072209#International_politics_and_geopolitics User:Conservative's essays#International politics and geopolitics], August 16, 2024.</ref>

One of the regrettable consequences of Charles Darwin’s ''On the Origin of Species'' was the advent of the [[pseudoscience]] known as [[geopolitics]].<ref>[https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/geopolitics-ill-suited-for-challenges-of-today-endangers-global-economy-by-robert-skidelsky-2023-06 The Costly Return of Geopolitics], Robert Skidelsky, Jun 19, 2023. www.project-syndicate.org</ref><ref>[https://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=User:Conservative%27s_essays&oldid=2072209#International_politics_and_geopolitics User:Conservative's essays#International politics and geopolitics], August 16, 2024.</ref>

=== Darwinism as one of the causes of the collapse of the British Empire ===

=== Darwinism as one of the causes of the collapse of the British Empire ===