Concordance to Darwin's The Descent of Man & Sexual Selection - Evolutionary Biology Reference Book for Students & Researchers | Academic Study Resource

Great ideas matter. When Newton published Principia, in 1686, not twenty men in Europe knew enough mathematics to understand it; yet by the middle of the eighteenth century ordinary people everywhere were eager to learn something about what was called the Newtonian philosophy. Men gave lectures on the subject and published books. Ordinary people talked about Newton for the same reason that in our time they talk about Darwin. The name Darwin stands for a new idea of the world and man's place in it. These ideas were opposed to the prevailing belief that men were naturally disposed to evil, so that, if allowed to think and act without restraint, they would follow evil courses and accept wrong ideas. According to Newtonian philosophy, it seemed as if God had said to humankind: "I have designed the world according to a rational plan; and I have given you a rational mind, capable of understanding that plan. That is all I can do, and you must make the best of it. By following reason and experience you may in time lean all about the universe and its laws and so in the end solve all your difficulties." (Becker, Carl L. 1958 Modern History: The Rise of a Democratic, Scientific, and Industrialized Civilization page 186 Morristown NJ: Silver Burdett Co.).Now to the subject of concordances, they matter less than before due to the ability to download The Descent of Man from Project Gutenberg and search for a literal. Concordance has value in giving one a grasp on how many times a literal occurs and in what context. I still use the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, and I will keep A Concordance to Darwin's The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex right next to it.