Concept
Darwinism
Overview
Darwinism is a term used to describe a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) and his contemporaries. The theory states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. Also called Darwinian theory, it originally included the broad concepts of transmutation of species or of evolution which gained general scientific acceptance after Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, including concepts which predated Darwin's theories. English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley coined the term Darwinism in April 1860.
Darwin's work lacked the clear theory of inheritance, which was provided by later neo-Darwinian theories such as the modern synthesis (which integrates mendelian inheritance).
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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Now, we propose in the first place to show, that this law of organic progress is the law of all progress. Whether it be in the development of the Earth, in the development of Life upon its surface, in the development of Society, of Government, of Manufactures, of Commerce, of Language, Literature, Science, Art, this same evolution of the simple into the complex, through successive differentiations, holds throughout…
Herbert Spencer, Illustrations of Universal Progress
States what Darwinism is; the author is tied to Darwinism in the knowledge graph.
From adaptation we come to heredity and here according to Herr Duehring Darwinism is quite out. "The whole organic world, Darwin explained, came from a single germ, is, so to speak, the brood of a single being.
Friedrich Engels, Landmarks of Scientific Socialism
States what Darwinism is; opens on Darwinism.
_Against Darwinism._--The use of an organ does _not_ explain its origin, on the contrary! During the greater part of the time occupied in the formation of a certain quality, this quality does not help to preserve the individual; it is of no use to him, and particularly not in his struggle with external circumstances and foes. What is ultimately "useful"? It is necessary to ask, "Useful for what"?
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Will to Power
The author is tied to Darwinism in the knowledge graph; opens on Darwinism.
Philosophers who discussed Darwinism
- Friedrich Nietzsche
- Ludwig Büchner
- Karl Popper
- Seyyed Hossein Nasr
- George Henry Lewes
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- William Kingdon Clifford
- Richard Dawkins
- Friedrich Albert Lange
- Young Marx
- Bertrand Russell
- Jerry Fodor
- Peter Kropotkin
- Christian von Ehrenfels
- James McCosh
- Ernan McMullin
- God Is Not Great
- Chauncey Wright
- James Rachels
- James Hutchison Stirling
- Elizabeth Grosz
- Stefan Pawlicki
- Tobias Barreto
Related ideas
- E. O. Wilson
- David Stove
- Princeton University Press
- Springer Science+Business Media
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
- Atheism
- Intelligent design
- Ad hoc
- Philosophy (journal)
- Harvard University
- Marxism
- Abiogenesis
- Scientific theory
- Natural selection
- Newsweek
- Species
- Pejorative
- Peter Singer
- Princeton University
- -ism
- Herbert Spencer
- Richard Dawkins
- Reproduction
- Scientific American
Place in the tradition
Part of Animism.