Darwin and Science
Uploaded by babyboo on Jan 29, 2002
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) was a British Scientist. He laid the foundation of modern evolutionary theory with his concept of the development of all forms of life through the slow-working process of natural selection. His work had a lot of influence on the life and earth sciences and on modern thought in general.
He defines “Natural Selection” as those creatures that have the ability to adapt to the changing environment the ones who will survive the long run. Because of the food supply problem the young born to any species compete for survival. Those young that survive to produce the next generation tend to have favorable natural variations. The process of natural selection is passed on by heredity. Therefore each generation will improve will slightly improve adaptively, and keep on surviving.
He didn’t think that human’s were at the center of the living creation and proved it. He set out the laws of evolution.
“…Living creatures tend to increase their numbers rapidly if left unchecked.”
He believed that children tend to inherit the positive characteristics of their parents.
Darwin describes the Struggle for Existence in a metaphorical sense. It is the dependence of one being on another. Whether they are of the same species or not. For example if two animals are dying they would struggle for food – who will eat and survive and who will starve and die. But a plant in the desert would struggle for life against the drought. Therefore it is dependent on water for life.
Although all things in life are dependent on water, in various amounts.