"Charles Darwin recanted on his deathbed. This says a lot about the reliability of his theory; even its own author could not support it in good conscience."
Rebuttal
Two possible rebuttals:
It's probably a complete fabrication. Only one person (Lady Hope) ever claimed to witness this recantation, and all of his relatives denied that this event ever took place. Darwin's son publicly challenged her to respond to his accusations about the falsehood of her claim, and she rather conspicuously remained silent.
Even if Darwin did recant (a rather doubtful claim to say the least), how would that refute evolution theory? Did you know that Lord Kelvin, the father of thermodynamics, said near the end of his life that heavier-than-air manned flight was impossible? Does this throw the reliability of thermodynamics into doubt? Not at all.
In essence, this argument is a variation upon the "ad-hominem fallacy", ie- attack the man, not the message. In this case, they hope to attack Darwin's credibility by sowing the seeds of doubt that he was not confident in his own theory. But what they don't understand is that scientific theories are not judged on the credibility of their authors; a madman could come up with a theory that would be accepted if it produced accurate, testable predictions. In science, unlike religion, the truth of a statement is revealed by analysis and testing, not the authority of its author. In truth, the very use of this argument reveals much about the creationist mindset.
Fallacy watch:
Ad-hominem fallacy (attacks the messenger rather than the message, by arguing that the reliability of a theory depends on the certainty of its author rather than the soundness of its logic).
Outright lie (technically not a fallacy, which may come as a surprise to you, but rather, a dishonest debate tactic).
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