The Darwin debate in Dublin, 1859-1908.

This thesis intends to analyse both the course and the effects of the Darwin debate in Dublin during the first fifty years after the landmark publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of species in 1859. Darwin’s hypothesis that species evolved gradually over time by a process of natural selection was so vastly contrary to the popular belief in a static order of life that controversy was perhaps inevitable. The period in question was an extremely interesting phase in Irish history which saw much intellectual and ideological change. Dublin, at the centre of this, saw many important developments such as the rise of the Republican, Home Rule and Unionist movements. It also saw the Gaelic revival take place and experienced great vibrancy in Irish academic life, particularly in literature with fine work produced by Dublin born men such as Yeats, Synge and Wilde. Important debates were taking place over the land question, the university question, the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland and the rising influence of Rome. It comes as no surprise that the study of Darwinism in this environment of change would deliver a number of interesting outcomes