Darwin’s artificial selection as an experiment
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Variation (astronomy)
Origin of species
Naturalism
In his Autobiography, written in 1876 but published posthumously, the great naturalist Charles Darwin reflects on those crucial events that resulted in his discovering the scientific theory of organic evolution by means of natural selection. He examines his five-year voyage on the HMS Beagle and subsequent preparation of a manuscript for his pivotal work, On the Origin of Species (1859). Also included are many of Darwin's important letters, edited by his son, Francis. They reveal the freethinking geobiologist's thoughts on religious beliefs, scientific research, and the bitter controversy surrounding the far-reaching ramifications of evolutionary theory for life on Earth (including our own species). The reissue of this volume is a major contribution to the history and philosophy of evolutionary thought.
Naturalism
Origin of species
Charles darwin
Evolutionary Theory
Modern evolutionary synthesis
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Charles Darwin is often credited with discovering evolution through natural selection, but the idea was not his alone. The naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace, working independently, saw the same process at work in the natural world and elaborated much the same theory. Their important scientific contributions made both men famous in their lifetimes, but Wallace slipped into obscurity after his death, while Darwin's renown grew. Dispelling the misperceptions that continue to paint Wallace as a secondary figure, James Costa reveals the two naturalists as true equals in advancing one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time.Analyzing Wallace's Notebook, Costa shows how Wallace's methods and thought processes paralleled Darwin's, yet inspired insights uniquely his own. Kept during his Southeast Asian expeditions of the 1850s, the notebook is a window into Wallace's early evolutionary ideas. It records his evidence-gathering, critiques of anti-evolutionary arguments, and plans for a book on transmutation. Most important, it demonstrates conclusively that natural selection was not some idea Wallace stumbled upon, as is sometimes assumed, but was the culmination of a decade-long quest to solve the mystery of the origin of species.Wallace, Darwin, and the Origin of Species also reexamines the pivotal episode in 1858 when Wallace sent Darwin a manuscript announcing his discovery of natural selection, prompting a joint public reading of the two men's papers on the subject. Costa's analysis of the Notebook shines a new light on these readings, further illuminating the independent nature of Wallace's discoveries.
Origin of species
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Darwin couched his theory of evolution by means of natural selection in verbal arguments. According to this theory, if the variation observed between individuals was heritable, and if it contributed differentially to the survivorship and reproductive success of individuals, the process of natural selection would ensure greater representation of individuals bearing favourable traits chosen from the existing variation in subsequent generations. This concept is powerful, whether verbally or mathematically articulated. Ernst Mayr was Darwin's champion in the 20th century, defending Darwin and Darwinism vigorouslthroughout his long and industrious career that spanned 80 years.However, as outlined in Borges, even among the Darwinists, the 1950s was a time of conflict between experimental biologists and naturalist-systematists such as Mayr on one hand and theoreticians on the other. The so-called evolutionary synthesis of the 1930s and 1940s that amalgamated Darwin's theory with genetics was largely attributed to the theoretical work of Ronald.
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Kin selection
Variation (astronomy)
Charles darwin
Inclusive fitness
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In his Natural Theology (1802), the eighteenth-century Anglican theologian William Paley compares a watch with objects in nature, arguing that "every manifestation of design, which existed in the watch, exists in the works of nature…" Charles Darwin read Paley's Natural Theology as a young man and offered natural selection as an alternative, naturalistic explanation of Paley's explanandum: the appearance of design in nature. Many of Paley's successors diverged from him in their approach to the living world. This chapter examines some of these alternative approaches and the extent to which the literature of natural theology had trodden the path between Paley's watchmaker and Darwin's natural selection prior to the publication of the latter's Origin of Species. In particular, it focuses on the Bridgewater Treatises, a series of eight highly popular works published in the 1830s, which illustrate the far-reaching development that took place in natural theology in Britain during the early nineteenth century.
Naturalism
Charles darwin
Origin of species
Natural science
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Variation (astronomy)
Origin of species
Naturalism
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Naturalism
Fallacy
Argument (complex analysis)
Confusion
Punishment (psychology)
Materialism
Immorality
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Origin of species
Naturalism
Argument (complex analysis)
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Naturalism
Origin of species
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