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Questions for Discussion: Evolving Ideas: Who Was Charles Darwin?
Discuss the different ways that Darwin and FitzRoy perceived the natural world. Explain how two intelligent, educated men could spend 5 years on the same voyage and come back with such different "cargos:" FitzRoy with scores of views of harbors and coastlines, and Darwin with the germ of an idea that changed the world. What aspects of Darwin's early life and times do you think set him up to do what he did on his return to Britain? Why do you think Darwin's work was such a remarkable success upon publication? Did his book sell out because of the controversy surrounding it, or in spite of that controversy? Why would many biologists today -- ranging from ecologists to molecular geneticists -- agree with the statement that Darwin's theory was "the single best idea that anyone has ever had?" Of what significance is the fact that Darwin was buried in Westminster Abbey next to Sir Isaac Newton?
