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Principles of Genetic Selection

More than a century after his death, and four generations after the publication of his chief work, The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin remains possibly the most controversial scientist in the world. His name is inextricably associated with the debate (now a political and cultural one, not a scientific one) that continues to swirl around the theory of evolution, a theory that deeply shook the Western view of humanity and its place in the world.

We conventionally speak simply of the theory of evolution, leaving off the explanatory phrase, "through natural selection." At most, perhaps, the general public has heard of "survival of the fittest"--an unfortunate phrase, since fitness in everyday usage is associated primarily with physical conditioning and athletic ability. "Survival of the most suited to its environment" would be a more accurate, if less pithy expression of the concept. But to most of us, "evolution" simply means that human beings are descended from apes--itself a slight misunderstanding, since both humans and modern apes are descendents of a mutual ancestor that is itself now extinct. But it is not simply evolution in and of itself, but the theory of natural selection--and the evidence he amassed to demonstrate it

--that were at the heart of Darwin's contribution to biological science.

Charles Darwin did not invent the concept of evolution. A number of prominent scientists and other thinkers during the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century--among them Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin--had offered more or less detailed theories of evolution (Clark, 1984, pp. 24-25). Indeed, we might say that the idea of evolution was a natural development of a concept, the Great Chain of Life, that went back very far in Western tradition.

The Great Chain of Life took form during the Middle Ages, based on an intermixture of classical and Biblical ideas. It was in its traditiona...

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Principles of Genetic Selection. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:47, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1689992.html