"Darbinkeri"

2015/02/16 Galarraga Aiestaran, Ana - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Eboluzioa

I learned the word to the zoologist, professor and disseminator Kepa Altonaga: darbinkeri. He found it in the dictionary of Plazido Muxika, as a counterpart to the introduction of Evolutionism in Spanish.

The dictionary of Múgica was published in 1965 and Altonaga recognizes his great contribution to the vocabulary of the time. But, at the same time, it does not conceal that the term servillería caused a great upheaval. He recognized it, for example, in an article published in the journal Elhuyar Izan, the suffix (-keria) of the term, indicates that the speaker had no positive opinion on evolutionism. And it was not the only one; according to Altonaga, many personalities of Euskal Herria were against the ideas of Darwin, including José Miguel de Barandiarán and Piarres Lafitte.

In his book Darwin geurean, Altonaga exposed the attitude of some of the most prominent Basques to Darwin's ideas (Pamiela, 2010). A highly recommended and appropriate reading, since last Thursday, day 12, was celebrated the day of Darwin.

Perhaps one might think that it is not necessary that day, that barbarism is something of the past. But it is not: According to a 2013 study in the United States, only 19.53% of the population considers evolution to be the best explanation of human creation (The variables related to public acceptance of evolution in the United States).