Abstract
This essay examines the relation of Darwin's orchids book to a central persuasive flaw in theOrigin: Its inability to give variation sufficient “presence” to break the hold of “design” in the mind of the reader. Darwin characterized the orchids book as “a flank movement on the enemy”; this essay identifies the “enemy” as Paley's natural theology and the “flank” as thetopoi, maxims, and habits of perception that led Darwin's colleagues and contemporaries to see design in nature. Moreover, this essay examines three aspects of rhetorical timing pertinent toOrchids - time askairos, time as adequate duration, and time as transformation - and then relates those features to Robert Cox's Heideggerian logic of repetition, disavowal, and transcendence. The essay concludes with implications of the tactical and temporal aspects of Darwin's reasoning for understanding both the logic of science and of Darwin as a rhetorical artist.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anonymous: 1860 (July), ‘Origin of Species,’Eclectic Magazine 50, 332–333.
Anonymous: 1865 (July), ‘The Origin and Antiquity of Man,’American Church Review 17, 177–179, 180–181, 191.
Anonymous: 1882 (Sept. 9), ‘Charles Darwin and Evolution,’Living Age, 648.
Aristotle: 1982,The “Art” of Rhetoric, John Henry Freese, trans. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Barrett, Paul H., Donald J. Weinsbank, and Timothy T. Gottleber (eds.): 1981,A Concordance to Darwin's Origin of Species, Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press.
Bowler, Peter J.: 1984,Evolution: The History of An Idea, Berkeley, University of California Press.
Bowler, Peter J.: 1989,The Non-Darwinian Revolution: Reinterpretation of An Historical Myth, Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press.
Campbell, John Angus: 1970, ‘Darwin andThe Origin of Species: The Rhetorical Ancestry of An Idea,’Speech Monographs 37, 1–14.
Campbell, John Angus: 1986, ‘Scientific Revolution and the Grammar of Culture: The Case of Darwin'sOrigin,’Quarterly Journal of Speech 72, 351–376.
Campbell, John Angus: 1989, ‘The Invisible Rhetorician: Charles Darwin's Third Party Strategy,’Rhetorica 7, 55–85.
Campbell, John Angus: 1990a, ‘Between the Fragment and The Icon: Prospect for a Rhetorical House of the Middle Way,’Western Journal of Speech Communication 54, 346–376.
Campbell, John Angus: 1990b, ‘Scientific Discovery and Rhetorical Invention: The Path to Darwin'sOrigin,’ in Herbert W. Simons (ed.),The Rhetorical Turn: Invention and Persuasion in the Conduct of Inquiry, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, pp. 58–90.
Campbell, John Angus: forthcoming, ‘Darwin's Post-Origin Strategy.’
Corsi, Pietro: 1985, ‘Review of Giuliano Pancaldi, (ed.),Teleologia e Darwinismo: La Corrispondenze tra Charles Darwin e Fredericco Delphino,’Journal of the History of Biology 18, 444–445.
Cox, J. Robert: 1987, ‘Cultural Memory and Public Moral Argument,’The Van Zelst Lecture In Communication, Evanston, IL, School of Speech, 1–16.
Darwin, Charles: 1863,Fertilization of Orchids By Insects, New foreward by Norris H. Williams, Stanfordville, New York, Earl M. Coleman, 1979. All references will be to this edition.
Darwin, Charles: 1859,On The Origin of Species, facsimilie of the first edition with an intro. by Ernst Mayer, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1959.
Darwin, Francis (ed.): 1903,More Letters of Charles Darwin, 2 volumes, London, John Murray.
Dawkins, Richard: 1986,The Blind Watchmaker, New York, Norton.
Ghiselin, Michael T.: 1969,The Triumph of Darwinian Method, Berkeley, University of California Press.
Gillispie, Charles Coulston: 1959,Genesis and Geology, New York, Harper Torchbooks.
Hodge, M.J.S. and David Kohn: 1985, ‘The Immediate Origins of Natural Selection,’ in David Kohn (ed.),The Darwinian Heritage, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, pp. 185–206.
Hume, David: 1779,Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, New York, Hafner Publishing, 1963.
Kant, Immanuel: 1790,Critique of Pure Reason, trans. and intro. by Lewis White Beck, New York, Bobbs-Merrill, 1956.
Kohn, David: 1980, ‘Theories to Work By: Rejected Theories, Reproduction, and Darwin's Path to Natural Selection,’Studies in the History of Biology 4, 67–180.
Leff, Michael C.: 1992, ‘Things Made By Words: Reflections on Textual Criticism,’Quarterly Journal of Speech 78, 223–231.
Leff, Michael C. and Andrew Sachs: 1990, ‘Words Most Like Things: Iconicity and the Rhetorical Text,’Western Journal of Speech Communication 54, 252–273.
McGee, Michael Calvin: 1990, ‘Text, Context and Fragmentation in Contemporary Culture,’Western Journal of Speech Communication 54, 274–289.
Ospovat, Dov: 1981,The Development of Darwin's Theory, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Paley, William: 1863,Natural Theology, or, Evidence of the Existence and Attributes of the Diety, Collected From the Appearances of Nature, Boston, MA, Gould and Lincoln.
Perelman, Chaïm: 1982,The Realm of Rhetoric, trans. by William Luback and intro. by Carroll C. Arnold, Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press.
Perelman, Chaïm, and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca: 1969,The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation, Notre Dame, IN, University of Notre Dame Press.
Polanyi, Michael: 1964,Personal Knowledge, New York, Harper Torchbooks.
Rudwick, Martin J.S.: 1970, ‘The Strategy of Lyell'sPrinciples of Geology,’Isis 61, 5–33.
Schrag, Calvin O.: 1989, ‘Communicative Rhetoric and the Claims of Praxis,’The Van Zelst Lecture in Communication, Evanston, IL, Northwestern University School of Speech, 1–16.
Stauffer, R.C., (ed.): 1975,Charles Darwin's Natural Selection, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Thompson, J.P.: 1861 (Jan.), ‘Does Science Tend Toward Materialism?’New Englander 19, 58.
Toulmin, Stephen: 1982,The Return to Cosmology: Postmodern Science and the Theology of Nature, Berkeley, University of California Press.
Vorzimmer, Peter J.: 1970,Charles Darwin: The Years of Controversy, Philadelphia, PA, Temple University Press.
Warnick, Barbara: 1992, ‘Leff in Context,’Quartery Journal of Speech 78, 232–237.
Wilson, W.C.: 1861 (Oct.), ‘Darwin and the Origin of Species,’Methodist Quarterly Review 42, pp. 610–612, 622–623.
Wollaston, Thomas Vernon: 1860, ‘Review of the Origin of Species,’Annals and Magazine of Natural History 5, 132–143.
Wright, Chauncey: 1871 (July), ‘The Genesis of Species,’North American Review 65–69.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
An earlier version of this essay appeared in the Proceedings of the Sixth SCA/AFA Conference on Argumentation.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Campbell, J.A. Of Orchids, insects, and natural theology: Timing, tactics, and cultural critique in darwin's post-“Origin” strategy. Argumentation 8, 63–80 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00710704
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00710704