Darwin’s Middle Road

Stephen Jay Gould

Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002)

• an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation. Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University and working at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. In the later years of his life, Gould also taught biology and evolution at New York University.

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

• an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.

• Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation(演变） of species.

Vocabulary on IntroductionSingle out

Breath of interest

Salient making of genius

A formula for dummies

Crack a nut

A walking exemplar

Go hand in hand

Analogical ability

phenomenal

Introduction

• 那女孩被挑选为学校代表。• The girl is singled out to represent the school.• 诚实是他最显著的特点 . • Honesty is his most salient characteristic.• 他把车开得极快• He drove exceedingly fast.• 奥巴马总统预计将在今天正式发布该提案 . • President Obama is expected to formally unveil

the proposal today.

• 这实在是一个棘手的问题 . • This is indeed a hard nut to crack.• 工业的发展同农业的发展密切相关 .• Industrial progress should go hand in hand

with the development of agriculture.• 该公司非凡的发展速度 , 使它名列前茅 . • The phenomenal growth that has enabled the

company to rank so highly.

• Under a more careful investigation, it is very rare for a person to possess in a real sense the two qualities that lead to success.

• Darwin is a living example to show how the breath of interest and the remarkable ability to make cross-disciplinary analogies can be combined.

Odyssey – The Great Ancient Greek Epic Poem

Brief introduction

The Odyssey mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus and his journey home after the fall of Troy. Connotation of the word odyssey: a long wandering and eventful journey

The rare beauty –Helen

Odysseus was a man with outstanding prowess and bravery. He had tricked the enemy into bringing a colossal woodenhorse within the walls of Troy.

It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War .Odysseus killed the suitors and reunited with his wife.

The Odyssey

• The Odyssey which was probably composed near the end of the 8th century BC is regarded attributed to Homer.

• Some scholars claim that Homer is a fictitious and constructed name.

• The formative influence played by the Homeric epics in shaping Greek was widely recognized, and Homer was described as the teacher of Greece.

• The poem lies at the beginning of the western canon of literature, and have had an enormous influence on the history of literature.

• Why does the author allude to the Scylla-Charybdis legend right at the beginning of the essay?

• By starting an essay with a Greek legend, the author both attracts the attention of the readers and vivifies the danger of the two extremes, hence emphasizing the importance of a “middle road”.

Vocabulary Synonym Word formation

hideous Adj. of breadth

mighty Noun form of rare

dogged Noun form of lament

perennial Noun form of avoid

prime Adj. of prestige

unwary Noun form of legitimate

fatuous Noun form of quirky

premature Adj. of intuition

incontrovertible Noun form of accessibleNoun form of mortal

Para.1-3

• 人们惋惜过去的好时光的流逝 . • People lament the passing of the good old days.• 他的胳膊软绵绵地垂在身子两旁 , 手张开着 .• His arms dangled loosely at his sides, with the palms

of his hands open.• 向大众隐瞒了骇人听闻的真相• The hideous truth was hidden from the multitude.• 他们打开了保险箱 , 拿走了里面所有的钱 . • They opened the safe and took all the money therein.

• 工厂的烟囱冒出滚滚浓烟 . • Plant chimneys belch out dense smoke.• 他通过艰辛的努力获得了奖牌 . • He gained the medal through his painful travail.• 他的坚强决心使他赢得比赛 . • His dogged determination helped him to win

the race.• 我的生活哲理 , 就是近乎中庸之道 . • My philosophy of life is to stick close to the

golden mean.

• 小说的主题是男人和女人之间永无休止的冲突。• The novel's central theme is the perennial conflict

between men and women. • 对无风险意识的人而言，股票市场充满了陷阱。 • The stock market is full of traps for the unwary. • 按顺序访问文件时 , 无法更改其数据 . • When sequentially accessing a file, you cannot

change its data.• 目前束缚着我们 , 并不只是他的支配地位 . • Not his ascendency alone, however , held me in

thrall at present.

• In order to avoid such dilemmas, we can either put emphasis on a stubbornly firm attitude just like the consistent and narrow-minded Christian Evangelists, or turn to a compromise between the extremes just like the middle road adopted by Aristotle.

The two extreme positions

• Inductivism: a research approach using a body of evidence to arrive at general principles or rules.

• Eurekaism: a theory of scientific creativity in favor of the role of inspirations, sudden and accidental.

Para.4 Inductivism----the architectural view

• Analogy: facts are like the bricks in a building, constructed without blueprints.

fact

fact

General rule

Para.4• 事故常起因于粗心 .• Accidents often arise from carelessness.• 他骄傲自满 , 不懂礼貌 , 愚昧荒唐 . • He is conceited , ill-mannered, and fatuous.• 预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早 . • It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.• 你那埋头苦干的精神令人尊敬 . • Your quiet hard work commanded respect.• 政府把该岛说成是新的旅游胜地。• The government touted the island as a new resort area.• 我们有确凿无疑的证据证明到底发生了什么。 • We have incontrovertible evidence of what took place.

Para.5 Eurekaism---subjective, intuitive

• Limitation of inductivism----heartless, inhumane, dull, and mechanical

• Emphasis on the essential subjectivity of creative thought

• 生病是请假的一个正当的理由 .• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.• We are happy to accept eccentricity and quirkiness

because they reflect an important part of our national character.

• 我有这么一种感觉 , 他并不真正想去 .• I have a hunch that he didn't really want to go.• 错误往往是正确的先导 , 骄傲是跌跤的前奏 .• Error is often the precursor of what is correct, but conceit

is the prelude to a fall.• 日落的美是难以形容的 .• The beauty of a sunset is ineffable.

Vocabulary (from para.6) Synonym or antonym Word formation

Antonym of accessible Noun form of elite

Antonym of intrinsic Noun form of valid

Synonym of pedestrian Noun form of exaggerate

Antonym of adequate Noun form of exclaim

Synonym of crucial Adj. of evolution

Synonym of lead Adj. of multitude

Synonym of tortuous Noun form of recollect

Synonym of engender Adj. of exultation

Synonym of maddeningSynonym of unearth Noun form of disparate

Para.6

• 我对目前的工作越来越不满意了 . • I'm increasingly disenchanted with my current job.• 这所学校不鼓励死记硬背的学习方式 . • Learning by rote is discouraged in this school. • 一元纸币的内在价值不过是一张纸而已 . • The intrinsic value of a dollar bill is only that of a piece

of paper.• 他的文风十分平庸，那本书乏味至极。• His style is so pedestrian that the book becomes a real

bore.

Para.7-8

• 本协议的有效期已过。• The period of validity of the agreement has

expired.• 这个国家目前正处于发展的中间阶段 .• This country is now at an intermediate stage of

development.• 大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行 .• Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the

name of progress.

• Darwin was believed to work on inductivism because he had spent five years sailing on the Beagle and according to the inductivist view, he was converted from a theological student to an adversary to theology because he applied his keen observation to the whole natural world.

• Due to the facts collected on the criterion of absolute objectivity, he gradually began to realize the principle of evolution and that it worked by natural selection.

natural selection• The animals (or plants)

best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on the characteristics which helped them survive to their offspring.

Para.9-10• 野生动植物是生态系统的重要组成部分 .• Wild fauna and flora are important integrants of

ecosystem.• 你会染上坏习惯的 .• Bad habits can creep up on you.• 把小麦的壳筛出来 .• Sift out the wheat from the chaff.• 现在皇室的力量比以前弱多了 .• The monarchy is much weaker now as compared to

the past.

Para.11

• When he claimed later that he had only recorded facts with nothing in his mind, it told us little about his testing a number of theories and experiencing a number of failures.

• The evidences from the notebook clearly refute the common belief that Darwin worked exclusively on inductivism, or mere collection of facts.

• When it was assumed that the theory of natural selection was built on the facts accumulated during the days aboard the Beagle, it told us little about his extensive reading for inspirational ideas.

Para.12

• But if this complicated course adopted by Darwin has tempted us to believe wrongly in inductivism at work, which has the damaging power of Scylla, it has also led to the misbelief in eurekaism at work, which is as naïve as inductivism and had the destructive power of Charybdis.

Para.11-12

• 既然开始下雨了 , 我去散步的念头只好作罢 .• Now it's started raining ; so much for my idea of

taking a walk.• 他们步行穿过老城区中心弯弯曲曲的街道 .• They walked through the tortuous streets of the

old city.• 她的活力与年轻的外表使人看不出她有 65岁了。• Her energy and youthful good looks belie her 65

years.

Para.13

• In this belying case, the notebooks have recorded no special happiness at all from Darwin’s understanding of Malthus’s theory when such happiness did take place.

•

Para.14

• The theory of natural selection resulted neither from Darwin’s hard inductive work of collecting facts, nor from his sudden and inexplicable eurekaist inspiration prompted by his reading of Malthus by chance.

• He is neither talented for ordinary and unimaginative thinking nor talented for mysterious and ineffable creation.

Para.14

• 这个队技巧表现得十分熟练 .• The team produced a very workmanlike

performance.• 粉笔和乳酪是完全不同的东西 .• Chalk and cheese are disparate substances.

Good features of each view---Darwin as an example

Inductivism• Keen powers of observation• Collect facts on a wholesale

scale

eurekaism• Extensive reading for

inspirational ideas• As Darwin made notes

when reading extensively, he made reflections on the related ideas on life, society and morals.

Para.15-16 Darwinian Scholarship

• Because of the publication of Darwin’s notebooks and scholars’ research on the important two-year period from the end of his journey on the Beagle to his enlightenment by Malthus’s theory, “the middle road” theory of Darwin has been firmly established.

• Two works by Gruber and Schweber respectively

• At the beginning, he imagined that new species occurred with a predetermined length of life. Then gradually though intermittently, he worked out an idea about extinction by competition.

Para.15-16

• 百年奥运盛典将在佐治亚州亚特兰大举行。• The centennial Olympics will be in Atlanta, Georgia. • 为什麽市长要把这名官员降职 ? • Why did the mayor demote the official?• 你把那协议谈妥了 , 是怎么做到的 ? • How did you manage to clinch the deal? • 这两个版本间存在着微小的差别 .• There were minute differences between the two

versions.

Para.17-23

• The author’s view: Darwin pursued the scientific truth by making cross-disciplinary associations.

• Biology, his own domain, did not play a leading role.

• 意见很多 , 我不知道有谁能找到共同点 . • It's all mixed up, and I don't know that anyone can find a

common denominator. • 我们对毒品泛滥不能听之任之 . • We can't take a laissez - faire attitude to drug abuse.• 她从该课程中获益极大 . • She obtained maximal benefit from the course.• 可以说英格兰的夏季是传统英国特点的缩影。• The Summer Season could be said to epitomize all that is

traditionally English about UK.• 这部大胆而具颠覆性的电影引起了评论界广泛的支持。 • This courageous and subversive movie has attracted widespread

critical support.

• 自满容易导致悲剧 . • Complacency could easily result in tragedy.• 幸福不是由实力或金钱决定的。 • Happiness does not reside in strength or

money. • 成功将取决于你的努力 . • Success will rest upon your efforts.

• 他不希望任何人抄袭他的答案 . • He didn't want anybody to crib the answers from him. • 只有灵魂力量是从内在发出的 . • Soul Power is a power that can only emanate from

within. • 在渴望和平这一点上 , 大多数人都是一致的 . • Most people are in accord with their desire for peace.• 他把他的低分数归因于嘈杂的学习环境 . • He ascribes his low mark to the noisy study

environment.• 他以十分风趣的话结束了演讲 . • He ended his speech with a merry quip.

Vocabulary (from para.15) Synonym or antonym Word formation

Antonym of maximal Noun form of centennial

Antonym of appropriate Noun form of explode

Synonym of minute Noun form of eliminate

Antonym of efficient Noun form of subversive

Synonym of crucial Adj. of paradox

Synonym of preceding Adj. of falsity

Synonym of distressed Noun form of emanate

Synonym of crib v. of utility

Synonym of divorced

Exercises of “Darwin’s Middle Road”

Questions on the writer’s ideas

• 1) Where does Gould mean by “middle road”?• By “middle road”, Gould means “the idea of

steering a course between undesirable extremes”, namely a scientific approach between inductivism and eurekaism. This is an approach different from the Aristotle’s “golden mean”, which is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other deficiency, as inductivism and eurekaism is not as opposing as excess and deficiency.

• 2) What provides inductivism with an upper hand?

• Inductivism once had an upper hand over other modes of research, as its very essence calls for, as well as emphasizes, the complete honesty and objectivity in the nature of scientific approach, and believes in the existence of an ultimate truth as well as the natural progress towards it.

• 3) In what ways does inductivism smack of heartlessness?

• As inductivism emphasizes objective observation and a dull accumulation of facts without any preset schemes, it excludes, or even refuses to recognize, any subjective attributes of creative thoughts, thus being attacked as heartless or inhuman.

• 4) What is the downside of the inductivism-eurekasim dichotomy?

• The dichotomy prescribes the idea of two opposing extremes in scientific research as either dull and passive operation or inaccessible elitism. This in a way simplifies the complexity of research process and eliminates a possible combination of both.

• 5) What is the prime mover that brought out the discovery of natural selection?

• Darwin’s discovery of natural selection mainly results from his wide interest in various fields and his ability to construct fruitful analogies between different fields. On the one hand, he accumulated abundant facts, while on the other hand, it is his vast reading that triggered him thought over the principle of natural selection.

• 6) Why does the author lay such stress on analogy as a thinking mode?

• The author emphasizes the importance of analogy since he view it as “a profound source of insight”. As “great thinkers cannot be divorced from their social background”, the awareness of common elements in great theories in different fields might contribute to any research in one way or another.

Questions on the writing devices

• 1) Why does the author allude to the Scylla-Charybdis legend right at the beginning of the essay?

• By starting the essay with a Greek legend, the author both attracts the attention of the readers and vivifies the danger of the two extremes, hence emphasizing the importance of a “middle road”.

• 2) Look for vignettes of this Greek legend scattered in the article. How does the author weave all the vignettes into his overall argument?

• Other allusions to this Greek legend appear in “Darwin’s own odyssey toward the theory of natural selection” (par. 7) and in “Yet if this tortuous path belies the Scylla of inductivism, it has engendered an equally simplistic myth-- Charybidis of eurekaism” (par. 12). By

comparing Darwin’s researching process to the journey of Odysseus, the author stresses the difficulties and all the twists and turns of the research work. By vivifying the dangerous impact of inductivism and eurekaism on scientific research through the terrifying images of Scylla and Charybdis, the author interprets his objection to either extremes and enhances the significance of a combination of both, thus effectively weaving up his argumentation.

• 3) In argumentative writing, three types of appeal are common—logical, emotional, and ethical. Identify the kind of appeal for the point that both inductivism and eurekaism are flawed.

• The appeal for the point that both inductivism and eurekaism are flawed is both logical and emotional. The author first explains step by step the essence of the two extreme ways of scientific research and their problems. Then he proposes objection to both of them with a series of rhetoric questions, appealing to the emotion of the readers.

• 4) How will you understand “the jigsaw puzzle was only missing a piece or two at the time” (par. 14)? What target domains are the elements of “the jigsaw puzzle” and “a piece or two” projected to?

• “The jigsaw puzzle” refers to Darwin’s vague conception of natural selection as “a fanciful theory involving the idea the new species arise with a prefixed life span, and worked his way gradually, if fitfully, towards an idea of extinction by competition in a world of struggle

(par. 15).” And “a piece or two” mainly refer to the inner mechanism of this development, which is vital to the theory of natural selection.

• 5) What brings the author to reaffirm the theory of natural selection as an extended analogy to the laissez faire economics of Adam Smith (par. 19)?

• The laissez faire economics of Adam Smith provides Darwin with some basic elements of social development, including free competition, the institutions derived from the combined effort of such competition, and an absence of a

designed control from the above. These elements also prove to be true to Darwin’s theory concerning the natural development of individual species. The author also confirms his point by quoting Scheweber’s statement.

• 6) How does Gould refute the opinion that attributes great insights to mere luck in the conclusion? What kind of argumentative technique is at work?

• The author uses the technique of Point/Counterpoint (Concession-Refutation): he seems to first “fairly summarize” or even partially accept the argument that Darwin succeeds with luck. Then he refutes such assertion by referring again to his previous argumentation in the article and by citing an authority, Pasteur.

Translation: C-E• 达尔文的进化论最早是一种科学的理论，但由于历史的原因，这种并不成熟的科学居然成为科学界的权威理论。实际上后期的进化论已由科学变成了一种信仰，信仰包括可信和确信两个部分。可信是对信仰对象的理解和接受，这是理性的部分；确信是在行动上表现出来的精神倾向，这是非理性的部分。进化论作为一种科学提出，应该受到各个方面的检验。但由于在可信阶段，人们对它的理解和接受是建立在哲学进步需要的基础之上，并没有任何科学的严格证明，所以直接就从可信阶段上升到了确信阶段。

• 摘自吕川、张楠的文章“纪念伟大的《物种起源》诞生 140周年”

• Darwin’s theory of Evolution was originally a scientific theory. Yet due to some historical reasons, this not-so-mature theory should become authoritative in the world of science. In fact the theory in its later development has changed from science into a faith. Faith consists of two parts: belief and tenet. Belief is the understanding and acceptance of the object of faith, which is rational; while tenet is the spiritual orientation in practice, which is

• irrational. As a scientific proposal, the Theory of Evolution should be verified from different aspects. Yet during the stage of belief, people’s understanding and acceptance of the theory is based on the need of philosophical development devoid of rigorous scientific proving. As a result, the theory has leapt from belief to tenet.

• Excerpted from “In Memory of the 140th Anniversary of Origin of Species”, an essay by

LV Chuan and Zhang Nan

Translation: E-C

• In the real world, as Popper knew perfectly well, the response of the scientist who has proposed that all swans are white when a black swan appears is not to say, cheerfully, “Wrong again!” It is to say, “You call that swan?” The principle of falsification would begin an argument rather than prove a point. But the argument was the point. The argument that the black swan would produce—an argument about what evidence was crucial, and why—

• was different from all other kinds of argument. Science wasn’t a form of proof. It was a style of quarrelling. The reason science gave you sure knowledge you could count on was that it wasn’t sure and you couldn’t count on it. Science wasn’t the name fro knowledge that had been proved true; it was the name for guesses that could be proved false.• Excerpted from Adam Gopnik critique “The

Porcupine”• 在现实世界中，正如波普尔清楚了解的，当一只黑天鹅出现在一个提出“所有天鹅都是白色的”

• 这一论断的科学家面前时，他的反应不会是高兴地说：“又错了”！而是说：“那个也叫天鹅吗”？证伪的原则往往会挑起一场争论，而非证明某个观点。然而争论本身就是重点。黑色天鹅可能引发的争论——一场关于什么证据才重要、以及它为什么重要的争论——与所有其它类型的争论均有所不同。科学本身不是证明，而是一种辩论的方式。科学之所以能给予你某种可以依赖的确定知识，正是由于它本身不确定因而你其实永远不能全心依赖于它。科学不是什么已经被确证的知识的名称，而是所有可能被证明是错误的种种猜测的总称。

• 摘自亚当 ·盖普尼克的评论《箭猪》