Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist,
and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all
species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered
a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his
scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural
selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in
selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human
history and was honored by burial in Westminster Abbey.

The Origin of Species

Throughout his life, Darwin contributed a lot in the field of science, specifically on his theory of
evolution mentioned in his book The Origin of Species by means of natural selection. The book
is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology.

Various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. There
was growing support for such ideas among dissident anatomists and the general public, but
during the first half of the 19th century the English scientific establishment was closely tied to
the Church of England, while science was part of natural theology. Ideas about the
transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with the beliefs that species were
unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to other
animals. The political and theological implications were intensely debated, but transmutation
was not accepted by the scientific mainstream.

The book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted widespread interest upon its
publication. Darwin was already highly regarded as a scientist, so his findings were taken
seriously and the evidence he presented generated scientific, philosophical, and religious
discussion. With the development of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s,
Darwin's concept of evolutionary adaptation through natural selection became central to modern
evolutionary theory, and it has now become the unifying concept of the life sciences.
Summary

Darwin's theory of evolution is based on key facts and the inferences drawn from them,

 Every species is fertile enough that if all offspring survived to reproduce, the population
would grow (fact).
 Despite periodic fluctuations, populations remain roughly the same size (fact).
 Resources such as food are limited and are relatively stable over time (fact).
 A struggle for survival ensues (inference).
 Individuals in a population vary significantly from one another (fact).
 Much of this variation is heritable (fact).
 Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to
reproduce; individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and
more likely to reproduce and leave their heritable traits to future generations, which
produces the process of natural selection (fact).
 This slowly effected process results in populations changing to adapt to their
environments, and ultimately, these variations accumulate over time to form new species
(inference).
The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex is a book by English naturalist Charles
Darwin, first published in 1871, which applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and
details his theory of sexual selection, a form of biological adaptation distinct from, yet
interconnected with, natural selection. The book discusses many related issues, including
evolutionary psychology, evolutionary ethics, evolutionary musicology, differences between
human races, differences between sexes, the dominant role of women in mate choice, and the
relevance of the evolutionary theory to society.

The book has three (3) parts. Part 1 talks about the evolution of man.

PART 1

Evolution of Physical traits

Darwin's approach to arguing for the evolution of human beings is to outline how similar human
beings are to other animals. He begins by using anatomical similarities, focusing on body
structure, embryology, and "rudimentary organs" that presumably were useful in one of man's
"pre-existing" forms. He then moves on to argue for the similarity of mental characteristics.

Evolution of Mental traits

Based on the work of his cousin, Francis Galton, Darwin is able to assert that human character
traits and mental characteristics are inherited the same as physical characteristics, and argues
against the mind/body distinction for the purposes of evolutionary theory. From this Darwin then
provides evidence for similar mental powers and characteristics in certain animals, focusing
especially on apes, monkeys, and dogs for his analogies for love, cleverness, religion, kindness,
and altruism. He concludes on this point that "Nevertheless the difference in mind between man
and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind." He additionally
turns to the behavior of "savages" to show how many aspects of Victorian England's society can
be seen in more primitive forms.

In particular, Darwin argues that even moral and social instincts are evolved, comparing religion
in man to fetishism in "savages" and his dog's inability to tell whether a wind-blown parasol was
alive or not. Darwin also argues that all civilizations had risen out of barbarism, and that he did
not think that barbarism is a "fall from grace" as many commentators of his time had asserted.
PART 2 and 3

Sexual Selection

Darwin's theories of evolution by natural selection were used to try to show women's place in
society was the result of nature. One of the first women to critique Darwin, Antoinette Brown
Blackwell published The Sexes Throughout Nature in 1875. She was aware she would be
considered presumptuous for criticizing evolutionary theory but wrote that "disadvantages under
which we [women] are placed...will never be lessened by waiting". Blackwell's book answered
Darwin and Herbert Spencer, who she thought were the two most influential living men.[35] She
wrote of "defrauded womanhood" and her fears that "the human race, forever retarding its own
advancement...could not recognize and promote a genuine, broad, and healthful equilibrium of
the sexes".

Apparently non-adaptive features

In Darwin's view, anything that could be expected to have some adaptive feature could be
explained easily with his theory of natural selection. In On the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote
that to use natural selection to explain something as complicated as a human eye, "with all its
inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different
amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration" might at first
appear "absurd in the highest possible degree," but nevertheless, if "numerous gradations from
a perfect and complex eye to one very imperfect and simple, each grade being useful to its
possessor, can be shown to exist", then it seemed quite possible to account for within his
theory.

Darwin had developed his ideas about sexual selection for this reason since at least the 1850s,
and had originally intended to include a long section on the theory in his large, unpublished
book on species. When it came to writing Origin (his "abstract" of the larger book), though, he
did not feel he had sufficient space to engage in sexual selection to any strong degree, and
included only three paragraphs devoted to the subject. Darwin considered sexual selection to be
as much of a theoretical contribution of his as was his natural selection, and a substantial
amount of Descent is devoted exclusively to this topic.