On February 12, 1809, Charles Darwin was born in England, and Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky. They had more in common than just the coincidence of their birth. Almost every February 12th, I have posted an essay on some of the common themes in their lives. I see at least ten points of similarity between Darwin and Lincoln.
1. Both saw the universe as governed by natural laws, which included the natural laws for the evolution of life.
2. Both were accused of denying the Biblical doctrine of Creation.
3. Both were accused of being atheists or infidels.
4. Both spoke of God as First Cause.
5. Both appealed to the Bible as a source of moral teaching, even as they also appealed to a natural moral sense independent of Biblical religion.
6. Both rooted that natural moral sense in the evolved moral sentiments.
7. Both abhorred slavery as an immoral violation of evolved human nature, and they saw the American Civil War as a crucial turning point for the abolition of slavery.
8. Both were moral realists.
7. Both abhorred slavery as an immoral violation of evolved human nature, and they saw the American Civil War as a crucial turning point for the abolition of slavery.
8. Both were moral realists.
9. Both saw human history as moving through a Big History of three evolutionary eras--the foraging era, the agrarian era, and the modern era.
10. Both were classical liberals.
10. Both were classical liberals.
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