by Milton Johanides

Created on: July 07, 2009   Last Updated: July 08, 2009

There are many parallels between Aristotle and Darwin and similarities in their methods of analysis. Both were sons of eminent doctors and both turned their backs on medicine as a profession, per se. At eighteen, Aristotle joined Plato's Academy to learn his trade while Darwin was sent to the university of Edinburgh. Both men were captivated by the natural world and both would establish their careers following sea voyages. Darwin joined Captain Robert Fitzroy on the HMS Beagle's expedition to South America, while Aristotle took time off with his friend Theophrastus to study the botany and zoology of the island of Lesbos. In time, both men were to achieve celebrity status in their own lifetimes for their discoveries as well as establishing theories which would singularly alter the course of science in the future.

A review of their methods shows that both men adopted an inductive approach to science based on observation. Aristotle, in contrast to his predecessor Plato, was a collector and a cataloguer of nature from which he deduced his theories of nature. Plato was an idealist, establishing his theory of forms as the source of all ideas on earth, that in some ethereal sphere exist perfect versions of everything we see on earth. Aristotle drew conclusions from the world around him and formed universal theories "from the ground up" by comparing the essences of things. This is remarkably similar in style to Darwin who used his talent for observation and analysis to identify common traits between species ultimately leading to his theory of evolution. This was as much a radical break from theories of "intelligent design" which had predominated until then, as was Aristotle from Plato, Darwin would have followed the work of men such as William Paley who saw science as the unfolding of the mind of an intelligent creator, while Darwin's work would inadvertently prove to be the biggest threat to Christianity in history. Just as Aristotle's theories formed the basis of scientific thought unchallenged for several centuries, so Darwin's theories of evolution would come to be accepted by the scientific establishment as the benchmark for the development of species on earth, displacing creationism in school textbooks .

In time, though many of Aristotle's conclusions point to the shrewd intelligence of the man and cannot be disputed to this day, much of what he taught was discredited with the arrival of accurate scientific methodology. The same fate may befall the work of Darwin, as growing appreciation of particle physics brings into question many of the accepted scientific theories of earlier centuries. It is a testimony to the genius of these men that so much was achieved through their respective "instinctive" talent for science, but it was a genius that must carry with it a warning sign.

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