Charles Chapter 1 Summary

The original purpose of Darwin’s voyage was to learn and discover more about biology and to gain insight on plant and animal species. The stated intent of the voyage was to obtain evidence that supported the biblical theory of creation as well as chart poorly known parts of the South American coastline.

Charles Darwin was influenced the most by the Beagle Voyage that he accompanied Captain Fitzroy on. This voyage allowed him to explore the world giving him ideas and theories that he could research and prove. During this voyage Darwin examined his surroundings and collected research and data that he would later study and base theories off of. While on the voyage, Darwin experienced an earthquake in South America that formed many ideas and questions in his head. Darwin toyed with the idea that mountains must be the product of thousands of years of evolution and erosion.

After having a son of his own, Charles Darwin began to observe and study his child. He examined whether behavior was learned or instinctual. He thought that children needed to have freedom and express themselves. He helped society understand that the minds, attitudes and emotions of children need to slowly be shaped overtime, they are not naturally instilled at birth.

The documentary, “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea” tells the story of Charles Darwin’s conception of his theory of natural selection, and how it explains the evolutionary process and species adaptation. The story begins with a brief overview of his 5-year stint on the HMS Beagle as the ship's naturalist, during her South American voyage. The film shows how Mr. Darwin collected fossils and many species of animals and birds from many different regions especially the Galapagos Islands. It portrays Mr. Darwin’s return to England and his struggle between the mainstream religious beliefs and his personal beliefs of how different species came to be. Additionally, the documentary covers his presentation of fossils and ideas to the scientific community,

Darwin claimed the voyage on the “Beagle” was the most important event in his life. This is expressed by him in his “excerpt from Voyage of the Beagle”. “I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind; I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved, though they were always fairly developed.” He describes is journey in several ways that make it the most important event in his life. He states that his powers of observation were improved from when he left which is by far the most important thing you need to have deduce information from what you’re studying.

He sees the things that no one could see. He gathers the information and knowledge not only from the book but through observation. He observed the thing that was happening around him and try to find the answers and reasons why that was happening. The inventions of his hard work gave us the knowledge about the theory of gravity. The simple things like falling the apple from the tree that attracted him to find the reasons and come up with scientific methods that people use in this modern era to conduct the experiments. Dennis Diderot made the encyclopedia, Marques De Pombal rebuilt the city of Lisbon after it was destroyed, and Erasmus Darwin believed mankind evolved from shells and that God was not the one who created

His observations, as well as his discoveries of various artifacts and fossils, had begun to be the starting evidence for his theory of evolution and natural selection. Darwin’s exploration also helped him to understand various geological aspects of the earth such as the shifting of tectonic plates that would cause the scattering and displacement of many populations. Due to these discoveries, Darwin’s reputation grew in England quickly. Even though

The first factor being that every individual animal has its own variations that distinguish it from its parents. He studied and understood the effects of this; unfortunately, the actual study of genetics did not fully arise until the early 20th century. The second factor is that some of these variations offer great advantages. These variations are adapted to help the animal live longer such as having camouflage to hide from predators. Overtime these variations could even lead to a new species. In his study of birds, he observed that they ate a variety of food, which led to his hypothesis that natural selection shaped their beaks according to the ford

Charles Darwin originally had an idea of which animals in a changing environment will change with it. That is

Through the work of curious minds before them, Darwin’s inspiration working as a naturalist on the HMS Beagle and traveling to the Galapagos Islands, and Wallace’s promptings for publication in 1856,

Darwin was on the Beagle to gather specimens and spy on the Spanish colonial defenses. To keep a detailed record everything he saw, Darwin sent immediate reports in letters during the trip. When he got back to England, Darwin started diligently producing volumes of the zoological and geological phenomena he found in during the voyage (Howarth, 101). One of the species he records is the finch. He noticed how the different finch species had evolved to meet the nutrition available in their habitat. His detailed letters gave him access to the information he needed to describe the organisms he had seen when he began to write his book. He was on the island to collect specimen and so his writing explained in great detail the specimens he had found and

Wesson explored through many forests and mountains in many places including the Brazilian forests, Argentine pampas, and Chilean and Scottish mountains if not to do anything but to show Darwin’s energy and how much he worked for this. Marine fossils had also been found among the mountain tops, but this was not bothering most geologists, but younger scientists such as Charles Lyell claimed that there was an observable process that could explain this phenomena. The Beagle detected any shorelines from the keenness of Darwin’s eye from hundreds of miles out of the way. From these observations they could infer that earthquakes helped shape the earth. After docking their boat Darwin then gave his testimony on the subject and became a large British Science figure to the world. Wesson’s travels are mildly interesting, but he hits the mother load when he concentrates on his subject and reveals that 20 years before Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species, his genius was already in evidence. Another theory to submerge itself into the minds of people was the theory of Reincarnation.

Charles Darwin was born in England and his original plan was to take interest in medicine. When that didn’t work out for him, he then had an interest in divinity, so he went to university called Cambridge where he studied divinity. Later he took a five year trip on the HMS Beagle ship. During his time on board Darwin was reading the ‘Principles of Geology’ book which stated there was geological evidence of ancient animals. When Darwin arrived on the Galapagos Islands he noticed that the finches on the each island were similarly related

Charles Darwin was a man who shaped the way in which we think about evolution in modern times. He brought forth and described the theory of natural selection and survival of the fittest. To fully understand modern evolutionary thoughts it is necessary for one to completely understand the early theories of Charles Darwin. In this paper I will provide the reader with a complete background on Charles Darwin, describe his voyage on the HMS Beagle, and discuss his theory of natural selection.

He layed some of the stepping stones needed to develop certain theories that pertain to imitation and learning. Which can be used with infants as well as some animals that have to cognitive ability too learn. Both imitation and learning are reliant to the environment to the individual and the subject has to adapt to the situation or they will not survive. Although Charles Darwin was not first nor was the last to add on the evolution he had a huge role within the field of psychology, and this why I feel Charles Darwin was an important