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Columnist cautions today's certainties may look absurd to future generations

Richard Glover uses Darwin's platypus hunt and outdated domestic advice to show how every age is trapped by its own attitudes

By LineZotpaper
Published
Read Time1 min
Sources3 outlets
Columnist Richard Glover argues that even the greatest thinkers are prisoners of their era, using Charles Darwin's delight in killing a platypus during his Australian visit as a striking example. He suggests current certainties in parenting and domestic life will likely seem just as misguided to future eyes.

Drawing on a letter from Charles Darwin found in the Oxford Book of Australian Letters, Glover notes the naturalist described killing a platypus as "a great feat" and "a delightful experience." This, Glover writes, shows that even Darwin—famous for upending humanity's certainties—was still "imprisoned by the conventional attitudes of his time."

Glover extends the point to domestic advice once given to women, who were expected to maintain a nice home for their "exhausted" husbands. "In every period, most people cling to common attitudes of the age – no matter how ridiculous," he writes. The implication is that many of today's firmly held beliefs, especially around parenting and gender roles, will one day be looked back on with similar bemusement.

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Analysis

Why This Matters

  • Invites readers to question their own unquestioned assumptions about parenting, work, and family life.
  • Suggests humility about current scientific and social certainties, which may prove as transitory as those of Darwin's day.
  • Encourages a longer view of cultural norms, potentially softening contemporary debates.

Background

Glover's column belongs to a long tradition of reflecting on outdated expert advice—from Victorian child-rearing manuals to mid-20th century home economics. By holding up Darwin's casual attitude toward wildlife and past expectations of women, he illustrates how attitudes shift dramatically across generations. The piece implies that today's parenting and relationship advice may age just as poorly.

Key Perspectives

Columnist Richard Glover: Argues that we are all products of our time and that current certainties deserve skepticism. Every age believes its own views are enlightened. Defenders of modern expertise: Might counter that today's advice is based on evidence, not prejudice, and that science has progressed beyond Victorian-era assumptions. Historians of science and culture: Would note that past experts were also confident, and that hindsight reveals blind spots we cannot currently see.

What to Watch

  • Public reactions to the piece, especially around parenting and gender roles, which may reveal how attached people are to current norms.
  • Whether columnists and commentators pick up the theme of historical humility in other contexts (e.g., technology, medicine).
  • The durability of today's most strongly held social or scientific prescriptions: which will be the first to seem absurd?

Sources

Zotpaper

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