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46-473: Darwinism is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and others. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce . Also called Darwinian theory , it originally included

92-464: A ditch to avoid Confederate sharpshooters at a range of around 800 to 1,000 yards (730–910 m). Shots from Confederate Whitworth rifles, easily identifiable due to the shrill whistling noises their hexagonal bullets made in flight, caused members of his staff and nearby artillerymen to duck for cover. Sedgwick strode around in the open and was quoted as saying, "What? Men dodging this way for single bullets? What will you do when they open fire along

138-605: A dogmatic, atheistic ideology akin to Marxism ." However, Darwinism is also used neutrally within the scientific community to distinguish the modern evolutionary synthesis , which is sometimes called " neo-Darwinism ", from those first proposed by Darwin. Darwinism also is used neutrally by historians to differentiate his theory from other evolutionary theories current around the same period. For example, Darwinism may refer to Darwin's proposed mechanism of natural selection, in comparison to more recent mechanisms such as genetic drift and gene flow . It may also refer specifically to

184-546: A hexagonal bore and rapid regular twist, when it was tested by the Union's Ordnance Committee, along with the was admitted to have surpassed all the others for accuracy at long ranges. No less than 1,000 rounds were fired from each rifle without cleaning. But as it required "...very peculiar long cartridges, it was thought these would be inconvenient for army purposes." Whitworth rifles were made with barrel lengths of 33, 36 and 39 inches (840, 910 and 990 mm), giving

230-530: A kind of faith, like ' Maoism [...] Scientists don't call it 'Darwinism'." In the United Kingdom , the term often retains its positive sense as a reference to natural selection, and for example British ethologist and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins wrote in his collection of essays A Devil's Chaplain , published in 2003, that as a scientist he is a Darwinist. In his 1995 book Darwinian Fairytales , Australian philosopher David Stove used

276-557: A lecture tour across the United States, starting in New York and going via Boston, Washington, Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska to California, lecturing on what he called "Darwinism" without any problems. In his book Darwinism (1889), Wallace had used the term pure-Darwinism which proposed a "greater efficacy" for natural selection . George Romanes dubbed this view as "Wallaceism", noting that in contrast to Darwin, this position

322-543: A longer and more slender bullet than was common at the time, which resulted in a bore diameter of .451 inches (11.5 mm) caliber, significantly smaller than the Enfield's .577-inch (14.7 mm) caliber bore. Whitworth's bullets were more stable at longer ranges than the shorter and larger diameter bullets found in other rifles of the time. Soon .577 calibre was called "fullbore", and .451, used extensively in long range shooting sport, "smallbore". Whitworth also engineered

368-407: A position to say whether this is, or is not, the case; but in either event they will owe the author of "The Origin of Species" an immense debt of gratitude.... And viewed as a whole, we do not believe that, since the publication of Von Baer's "Researches on Development," thirty years ago, any work has appeared calculated to exert so large an influence, not only on the future of Biology, but in extending

414-584: A result had only a vague and inaccurate understanding of heredity . He naturally had no inkling of later theoretical developments and, like Mendel himself, knew nothing of genetic drift , for example. In the United States and to some extent in the United Kingdon, creationists often use the term "Darwinism" as a pejorative term in reference to beliefs such as scientific materialism . Huxley, upon first reading Darwin's theory in 1858, responded, "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that!" While

460-399: A sliding blade sight with an adjustment for windage . Some had simple fixed front sights, while others used a post and globe front sight. A small number of Whitworth rifles were equipped with a four power telescopic sight , designed by British Colonel David Davidson which, unlike modern rifle scopes, was attached to the left side of the weapon instead of the top. While the telescopic sight

506-480: The central dogma of molecular biology . Though the term usually refers strictly to biological evolution, creationists have appropriated it to refer to the origin of life or to cosmic evolution , that are distinct to biological evolution, and therefore consider it to be the belief and acceptance of Darwin's and of his predecessors' work, in place of other concepts, including divine design and extraterrestrial origins . English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined

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552-431: The sociobiological explanation of altruism as an evolutionary feature was presented in such a way that the argument was effectively immune to any criticism. English philosopher Simon Blackburn wrote a rejoinder to Stove, though a subsequent essay by Stove's protégé James Franklin suggested that Blackburn's response actually "confirms Stove's central thesis that Darwinism can 'explain' anything." In more recent times,

598-564: The 2008 documentary film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed , which promotes intelligent design (ID), American writer and actor Ben Stein refers to scientists as Darwinists. Reviewing the film for Scientific American , John Rennie says "The term is a curious throwback, because in modern biology almost no one relies solely on Darwin's original ideas ... Yet the choice of terminology isn't random: Ben Stein wants you to stop thinking of evolution as an actual science supported by verifiable facts and logical arguments and to start thinking of it as

644-545: The Australian moral philosopher and professor Peter Singer , who serves as the Ira ;W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics at Princeton University , has proposed the development of a "Darwinian left " based on the contemporary scientific understanding of biological anthropology , human evolution , and applied ethics in order to achieve the establishment of a more equal and cooperative human society in accordance with

690-614: The Whitworth rifle was able to hit the target at a range of 2,000 yards (1,800 m), whereas the Enfield was only able to hit the same target at a range of 1,400 yards (1,300 m). While the trials were generally a success for the Whitworth rifle, the British government ultimately rejected the design because the Whitworth's barrel was much more prone to fouling than the Enfield, and the Whitworth rifle also cost approximately four times as much to manufacture. The Whitworth Rifle Company

736-412: The barrel with a 1-in-20-inch (510 mm) twist, quite a bit tighter than the 1-in-78-inch (2,000 mm) of the 1853 Enfield, or the later 1856/1858 variants with five-groove barrels and a 1-in-48-inch (1,200 mm) twist. The extra spin the tighter twist imparted to the projectile further stabilized the bullet in flight. The Whitworth rifle weighed 9 lb (4.1 kg). Other long-range rifles of

782-573: The broad concepts of transmutation of species or of evolution which gained general scientific acceptance after Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, including concepts which predated Darwin's theories. English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the term Darwinism in April 1860. Darwinism subsequently referred to the specific concepts of natural selection, the Weismann barrier , or

828-545: The domination of Science over regions of thought into which she has, as yet, hardly penetrated. These are the basic tenets of evolution by natural selection as defined by Darwin: "Darwinism" soon came to stand for an entire range of evolutionary (and often revolutionary) philosophies about both biology and society. One of the more prominent approaches, summed in the 1864 phrase " survival of the fittest " by Herbert Spencer, later became emblematic of Darwinism even though Spencer's own understanding of evolution (as expressed in 1857)

874-730: The first shot from a Whitworth rifle on a machine rest at 400 yards (370 m), and struck the bull's-eye 1 to 1 + 1 ⁄ 4 inches (25–32 mm) from its center. Britain was officially neutral during the American Civil War , but private arms manufacturers were not required to remain neutral. The Whitworth Rifle Company, for example, sold the rifle to the Confederacy. The Confederate soldiers that used these rifles were referred to as Whitworth Sharpshooters . They accompanied regular infantrymen, and were usually used to eliminate Union artillery gun crews. The Whitworth

920-486: The highest-ranking Union officers killed during the Civil War, shot on 9 May 1864, at Spotsylvania . In October 2017, a surviving example of a Confederate Whitworth rifle was auctioned with a hammer price of $ 161,000. The Whitworth rifle was considered to be the very best rifle of its time in terms of accuracy, when compared to other British, French, American rifles, or those produced elsewhere. The Whitworth rifle

966-584: The influence of the deflagration of 80 to 90 grains (5.2–5.8 g) of fine rifle powder , the bullet would obturate into the hexagonal bore. Recovered bullets were found to be as hexagonal as those which had been factory-made to a hexagonal shape. The hexagonal-form bullet did not need to expand to properly grip the barrel, and therefore could be made out of a harder lead alloy . The sights used on Whitworth rifles varied. Some used Enfield type flip-up sights that were graduated to 1,200 yards (1,100 m) in 100 yards (90 m) increments. Others used

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1012-429: The late 19th century. During the approximate period of the 1880s to about 1920, sometimes called " the eclipse of Darwinism ", scientists proposed various alternative evolutionary mechanisms which eventually proved untenable. The development of the modern synthesis in the early 20th century, incorporating natural selection with population genetics and Mendelian genetics , revived Darwinism in an updated form. While

1058-505: The latter half of the 19th century. A single-shot muzzleloader with excellent long-range accuracy for its era, especially when used with a telescopic sight , the Whitworth rifle was widely regarded as the world's first sniper rifle . The Whitworth rifle saw extensive use with the Confederate sharpshooters in the American Civil War , claiming the lives of several Union generals, including Major General John Sedgwick , one of

1104-468: The modern preproduction of Whitworth rifles. These reproductions are often used by Confederate re-enactors of the American Civil War, and by those who have an interest in muzzleloading firearms. All variants used in the American Civil War were "two-band" with 33-inch (840 mm) barrels, while, as of 2022 , the reproduction rifles are all the longer-barreled, "three-band", civilian versions of

1150-556: The period tended to have much larger and heavier barrels, which made them too heavy for standard infantry use. When being used by sharpshooters, Whitworth rifles were usually rested against a tree or log to increase their accuracy. Some sharpshooters carried their own forked rests for the rifle, so that a suitable rest was always available. In 1860, the British National Rifle Association held its first annual meeting at Wimbledon. Queen Victoria fired

1196-425: The requirements to informally prove a conclusion with a deductive argument is for all its terms to be used unambiguously . The ambiguous use of a term in a deductive argument may be an instance of the fallacy of four terms . . This logic -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Whitworth rifle The Whitworth rifle was an English-made percussion rifle used in

1242-456: The role of Charles Darwin as opposed to others in the history of evolutionary thought —particularly contrasting Darwin's results with those of earlier theories such as Lamarckism or later ones such as the modern evolutionary synthesis. In political discussions in the United States , the term is mostly used by its enemies. Biologist E. O. Wilson at Harvard University described the term as being "a rhetorical device to make evolution seem like

1288-457: The same type of system could be used to create a more accurate rifle to replace the Pattern 1853 Enfield , which had shown some weaknesses during the recent Crimean War . Trials were held in 1857 to compare Whitworth's design against the Enfield. The Whitworth rifle outperformed the Enfield at a rate of about three to one in the trials, which tested the accuracy and range of both weapons. Notably,

1334-458: The sociobiological explanation of altruism. In evolutionary aesthetics theory, there is evidence that perceptions of beauty are determined by natural selection and therefore Darwinian; that things, aspects of people and landscapes considered beautiful are typically found in situations likely to give enhanced survival of the perceiving human's genes . [REDACTED] Evolutionary biology portal Term (argumentation) One of

1380-455: The term Darwinism had been used previously to refer to the work of Erasmus Darwin in the late 18th century, the term as understood today was introduced when Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species was reviewed by Thomas Henry Huxley in the April 1860 issue of The Westminster Review . Having hailed the book as "a veritable Whitworth gun in the armoury of liberalism" promoting scientific naturalism over theology , and praising

1426-463: The term Darwinism has remained in use amongst the public when referring to modern evolutionary theory, it has increasingly been argued by science writers such as Olivia Judson , Eugenie Scott , and Carl Safina that it is an inappropriate term for modern evolutionary theory. For example, Darwin was unfamiliar with the work of the Moravian scientist and Augustinian friar Gregor Mendel , and as

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1472-477: The term Darwinism in April 1860. It was used to describe evolutionary concepts in general, including earlier concepts published by English philosopher Herbert Spencer . Many of the proponents of Darwinism at that time, including Huxley, had reservations about the significance of natural selection, and Darwin himself gave credence to what was later called Lamarckism . The strict neo-Darwinism of German evolutionary biologist August Weismann gained few supporters in

1518-472: The term "Darwinism" in a different sense from the above examples. Describing himself as non-religious and as accepting the concept of natural selection as a well-established fact, Stove nonetheless attacked what he described as flawed concepts proposed by some "Ultra-Darwinists". Stove alleged that by using weak or false ad hoc reasoning, these Ultra-Darwinists used evolutionary concepts to offer explanations that were not valid: for example, Stove suggested that

1564-442: The term to exclude those like American botanist Asa Gray who combined Christian faith with support for Darwin's natural selection theory, before answering the question posed in the book's title by concluding: "It is Atheism." Creationists use pejoratively the term Darwinism to imply that the theory has been held as true only by Darwin and a core group of his followers, whom they cast as dogmatic and inflexible in their belief. In

1610-516: The term. The term Darwinism is often used in the United States by promoters of creationism , notably by leading members of the intelligent design movement , as an epithet to attack evolution as though it were an ideology (an "ism") based on philosophical naturalism , atheism , or both. For example, in 1993, UC Berkeley law professor and author Phillip E. Johnson made this accusation of atheism with reference to Charles Hodge 's 1874 book What Is Darwinism? However, unlike Johnson, Hodge confined

1656-496: The usefulness of Darwin's ideas while expressing professional reservations about Darwin's gradualism and doubting if it could be proved that natural selection could form new species, Huxley compared Darwin's achievement to that of Nicolaus Copernicus in explaining planetary motion: What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular? What if species should offer residual phenomena, here and there, not explicable by natural selection? Twenty years hence naturalists may be in

1702-399: The weapon an overall length of 49, 52 and 55 inches (1,200, 1,300 and 1,400 mm) respectively. The barrel was attached to the stock using two or three barrel bands, depending on the barrel's length. Two types of bullets were used in the Whitworth rifle: hexagonal and cylindrical. The cylindrical bullets had to be made out of soft pure lead, with a small hollow in the base. Under

1748-418: The whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Although chastened, his men continued to flinch and he repeated, "I'm ashamed of you, dodging that way. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." Just seconds later he fell forward with a bullet hole below his left eye. At least five Confederate soldiers claimed that they had fired the fatal shot. The Whitworth rifle with

1794-489: Was able to sell the weapon to the French army, and also to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. While the barrel design of the Whitworth rifle was innovative, the rest of the rifle was similar to other rifles and rifle-muskets used at the time. The rifle was muzzle loaded, and used a percussion lock firing mechanism. The lock mechanism was very similar to that used on the Enfield rifle-musket. Whitworth chose to use

1840-412: Was advocating a "pure theory of natural selection to the exclusion of any supplementary theory." Taking influence from Darwin, Romanes was a proponent of both natural selection and the inheritance of acquired characteristics . The latter was denied by Wallace who was a strict selectionist. Romanes' definition of Darwinism conformed directly with Darwin's views and was contrasted with Wallace's definition of

1886-465: Was designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth , a prominent British engineer and entrepreneur. Whitworth had experimented with cannons using polygonal rifling instead of traditional rifled barrels, which was patented in 1854. The hexagonal polygonal rifling meant that the projectile did not have to bite into grooves as was done with conventional rifling. In 1856, that concept was demonstrated in a series of experiments using brass howitzers. Whitworth believed that

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1932-492: Was held responsible for at least two deaths of high-ranking officers. On 19 September 1863, at the Battle of Chickamauga , an unnamed Confederate sharpshooter mortally wounded Union General William Lytle , who was leading a charge at the time. Later in the war, on 9 May 1864, during the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse , according to popular accounts, Union General John Sedgwick was chiding some of his troops for lying down in

1978-496: Was more similar to that of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck than to that of Darwin, and predated the publication of Darwin's theory in 1859. What is now called " Social Darwinism " was, in its day, synonymous with "Darwinism"—the application of Darwinian principles of "struggle" to society, usually in support of anti- philanthropic political agenda. Another interpretation, one notably favoured by Darwin's half-cousin Francis Galton ,

2024-421: Was that "Darwinism" implied that because natural selection was apparently no longer working on "civilized" people, it was possible for "inferior" strains of people (who would normally be filtered out of the gene pool ) to overwhelm the "superior" strains, and voluntary corrective measures would be desirable—the foundation of eugenics . In Darwin's day there was no rigid definition of the term "Darwinism", and it

2070-501: Was used by opponents and proponents of Darwin's biological theory alike to mean whatever they wanted it to in a larger context. The ideas had international influence, and Ernst Haeckel developed what was known as Darwinismus in Germany, although, like Spencer's "evolution", Haeckel's "Darwinism" had only a rough resemblance to the theory of Charles Darwin, and was not centred on natural selection. In 1886, Alfred Russel Wallace went on

2116-577: Was very advanced for its time, it had a reputation for leaving the user with a black eye due to the rifle's fairly substantial recoil . The typical Confederate rifle in the U.S. Civil war had a barrel length of 33 inches (840 mm), open sights with the front blade being adjustable for windage, and a stock which extended to within a short distance of the muzzle, giving the rifle a snub-nosed appearance. Previously, reproductions of Whitworth rifles were manufactured by Parker-Hale and Euroarms. In September 2015, Italian manufacturer Davide Pedersoli began

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