Charles Robert Darwin and his Revolutionary Ideas

Charles Darwin is one the most influential scientists in our history. Without his speculation and theories on evolution, the way we look at evolution today may have been very misguided. Darwin created new ideas and theories that dramatically changed the way we see science today. His impact on the scientific community was both exciting yet controversial.

Charles Darwin was an influential ideologist, known as the father of evolution. He created the theory of evolution in which species change overtime through what he called natural selection. Natural selection is the process when organisms that are better adapted to their environment survive and pass on their genetics. In The Descent of Man, Darwin explains various topics such as the similarities between races, the relevance of evolution in society, and the process of sexual selection. Ideas of The Descent of Man, were explored before Darwin, but what sets him apart is that he wanted to find the origin of man and ape as opposed to just stating similarities and differences. The theories that Darwin created contributed knowledge to evolution as

Darwinism opened the door to Social Darwinism which was utilized to classify to people. Social Darwinism was a justification for superior behaviors over people being considered poor and incapable of succeeding due to their social class or race. This is where the survival of the fittest came into place. Classifying people based on how successful they were. The more wealthy a person was the

Although Darwin’s (1809-1882) work in evolutionary observation might appear radically different from those focused on other areas, the theories he developed from these observation lead to such groundbreaking publishing’s as The Origin of Species. These intern caused an upset within the then accepted norms of philosophy and religion, had a profound impact on the academia, and further

Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, a scientific theory that supported the belief of evolution, was manipulated and applied to different areas of life, and thus it became the shaping force in European thought in the last half of the nineteenth century. Darwin, through observation of organisms, determined that a system of natural selection controlled the evolution of species. He found that the organisms that were most fit and assimilated to the environment would survive. They would also reproduce so that over time they would eventually dominate in numbers over the organisms with weaker characteristics. This new theory was radical and interesting to the scientific world but its effects reach far beyond this small institution of

Darwin was the British naturalist who became famous for his theories of evolution and natural selection. Like several scientists before him, Darwin believed all the life on earth evolved over millions of years from a few common ancestors. From 1831 to 1836 Darwin served as naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle on a British science expedition around the world. In South America Darwin found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species. On the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean he noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. The expedition visited places around the world, and Darwin studied plants and animals everywhere he went, collecting specimens for further study.

Although Charles Darwin is usually just looked at in the light of purely biology, his work that impacted other fields such as psychology or his work that lead to the rapid expansion of certain fields such as ethology, is often looked over. Darwin’s work impacted these fields both directly and indirectly at such a level of influence that some people believe that psychology should be looked at as pre- and post-Darwin. On the Origin of Species, while being primarily about biological phenomena and theories, was one of these works that impacted psychology indirectly. Other than giving a new perspective for psychologists to possess when contemplating different ideas, Darwin’s work on natural selection lead to the creation of evolutionary psychology.

Darwin wanted to further his studies in plant and animal life, and he also became interested in the similarities of plant and animal species to those of the human species. He noticed that humans too also had to develop new characteristics that would help them adapt to their environments. This made him want to look further into where humans came from and also question the idea of creationism. He argued that men are animals because they have to adapt to their surroundings just as animals do. He suggested that the stronger animals have a better survival chance and they produce offspring that carry this trait. A whole new population of species can derive from these offspring and traits that have evolved from older generations and species. This became known as Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

In the 19th century, scientific research progressed rapidly outside the world of industry and technology (McKay 744). British scientist, Charles Darwin, was the most influential nineteenth-century evolutionary thinker. Darwin spent his early career, amassing enormous amounts of biological and geological data from his voyage to South America (Fiero 3). In 1859, he published his classic work, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, where he summarizes his theory of evolution with the thought of struggle for survival, or natural selection. Furthermore, natural selection is the idea of groups of species surviving through generations by adapting to changes in the environment and using certain characteristics as an advantage. In addition, natural selection challenged traditional ideas about nature and world order, and it was also taken steps further by many thinkers. English philosopher, Herbert Spencer, saw the human race driven forward to ever-greater specialization and progress by a brutal economic struggle that determined the “survival of the fittest” (McKay 745). The notion of a body of thought drawn from the ideas of Charles Darwin that applied the theory of biological evolution to human affairs and saw the human race as driven by an un-ending economic struggle that would determine the survival of the fittest defines Social Darwinism (McKay 745). As European and American upper class sought to extend political and economic power, Social Darwinism proved to

One part of charles Darwin's legacy is how he changed the way people look at the world. Before his theory many people thought Animals were set in stone, but he changed how many people looked at the world (Biography.com editors). Next he caused a disagreement between the church and scientist. He made this disagreement because he challenged their view of how the world was made. Charles Darwin also helped contribute to other sciences, such as paleontology (Komor). He helped people understand how species survived and changed over time (Komor). He also helped them understand how the world came to be how it is today (Komor). Charles darwin made the groundwork for many scientific theories that have shaped the

Charles Robert Darwin was born February 12, 1809 in the United Kingdom. He was the fifth of six children. Born at home in his family house called The Mount. He shares his birthday with Abraham Lincoln who would also change the wolrd. By the age of eight Charles already had a love of collecting and natural history. In the summer 1825 Charels Darwin tried to be a doctor like his father but he found school to be dull and blood made him queasy so he negleted his studies. He started to realize that his love was else where. Darwin zealously collected beetles, studied taxidermy and sought out free thinkers.

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 and passed away on April 19, 1882. Darwin is known in the science community for his thoughts on how species evolved, which became known as Theory of Evolution. He started researching after his visit to Galapagos Islands where he found different species of finches and tortoises. Darwin found a lot of evidence in this animals to support his theory about Natural Selection. He was not able to publish his theory till 1859 because of the beliefs at the time. Scientist are still discovering new evidence on Darwin’s theory today.

Darwin and Evolution are inextricably linked in the minds of most people who have had the opportunity to study them in basic biology. However, Darwin's theories of selection and survival of the fittest have been applied to moral, economic, political, and other cultural aspects of society. Dennett briefly touched on some of the political and social ramifications of Darwin's theories in the final chapter of Darwin's Dangerous Idea. Other philosophers and thinkers have also adapted Darwin's evolutionary ideas, in order to apply them in a societal or cultural context. One great example of this adaptation of the biological concept of evolution, is the appearance of Social Darwinism during the 19th century.

Charles Robert Darwin, the founder of evolution, was born on February 12, 1809 in rural England. Charles was the son of Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgewood. His mother died when he was seven and his father died when Charles was thirty-nine.

     Darwin’s Theories upset the church, one of the things that he proposed was that all living things may have descended from the same species. Today it is believed that life may have started as replicating molecules. Darwin introduced the idea that life is not just evolving but the earth is also changing. This went against creationism, the Bible says that god created the world and all the animals. It also separated man from the animals because god created man in