Hatred of slavery drove Darwin ideas, book says | Lifestyle | Reuters: "By Mike Collett-White
LONDON, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A new book on Charles Darwin says a passionate hatred of slavery was fundamental to his theory of evolution, which challenged the assumption held by many at the time that blacks and whites were separate species.
'Darwin's Sacred Cause' is among the first of dozens of works about the 19th century scientist to appear in 2009, the bicentenary of his birth and 150th anniversary of the publication of his groundbreaking 'On the Origin of Species'.
Its authors, Adrian Desmond and James Moore, also expect it to be one of the most controversial, because it explores what they call Darwin's humanitarianism and challenges the notion that his conclusions were the result of pure scientific pursuit. 'There's got to be reasons why he came to common descent images of evolution when there was no precedent for that in the zoological science of his day,' Desmond told Reuters. 'It comes out of anti-slavery."
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