IDEALISM WITH MATERIALISM: DARWIN THROUGH THE EYES OF DAVID GEORGE RITCHIE

Darwin's revolutionary articulation of evolution seemed to threaten the idealism — and by implication, the liberalism — of T.H. Green. David George Ritchie, Green's disciple, responded by showing that one could not conceive of Darwin's revolutionary theories without a Kantian account of cognition. Darwinism becomes, for Ritchie, a mere instance of idealism at work. In addition, the Kantian argument from cognition remains a rigorous, syllogistic defence of a central tenet of idealism. The success of these arguments should (a) earn for Ritchie a higher place among the disciples of Green and (b) provide more impetus to the recent revival of interest in British Idealism.