Darwin Essay, Research Paper

Introduction

It is commonly thought today that the theory of evolution originated from Charles Darwin in the nineteenth century. However, the idea that species mutate over time has been around for a long time in one form or another. Therefore, by Darwin’s time the idea that species change from one type into another was by no means new, but was rejected by most because the proponents of evolution could not come up with a satisfactory mechanism that would explain this change.

But how did Darwin come up with an acceptable theory of evolution, and how did Darwin’s proposal of natural selection impact the theory of evolution? The answer lies in the study of the works of others, and in the works of Darwin himself, through his theories, his travels and his scientific pioneering.

The most influential evolutionary theories prior to Darwin were those of Lamarck and Geoffrey St. Hilaire, developed between 1794 and 1830. Lamarck suggested that species evolve through the use or disuse of particular organs. In the classic example a giraffe that stretches its neck slightly to reach higher leaves will gain in neck length, and this small gain would be passed on to its offspring. (Poirier, McKee, 1999) St. Hilaire, on the other hand suggested that the change was discontinuous, large in magnitude, and occurred at the production of offspring. However, these theories of evolution were based on explanations that offered no demonstrated mechanism. (Bowler, 1990)

Darwin’s theory of evolution differs in that it is based on three easily verified observations. First, individuals within a species vary from one another in morphology, physiology, and behavior. Second, variation is in some part heritable so that variant forms have offspring that resemble them. Third, different variants leave different number of offspring(Wilson, 1999). Darwin than proceeded to elaborate on the mechanism of evolution by suggesting that in the universal struggle for life, nature “selects” those individuals who are best suited for the struggle, and these individuals in turn reproduce more than those who are less fit, thus changing the composition of the population. In addition to natural selection, Darwin also suggested that species also evolve through the complementary process of sexual selection.(Wilson, 1999)

According to Darwin, in sexual selection, one gender of a species develops a preference for individuals of the other gender who possess certain features. The individuals who possess these features will than have a reproductive advantage over others, resulting in a greater number of offspring, and thus, again, a change in the composition of the population.(Poirier, McKee, 1999) Therefore, it was Darwin who made the theory of evolution feasible by providing the mechanisms of natural and sexual selection. The possibility of a feasible theory of evolution made the idea more acceptable by the scientific community, although there were those that still opposed it.

Darwin’s Formative Years

Charles Darwin was born in England in 1809 and belonged to a wealthy and respectable family. His grandfather, Erasamus Darwin, was a noted botanical expert in his day who published two important books, Zoonomia, and the Botanic Garden. In these books, Erasamus speculated about various evolutionary ideas that were dismissed as too radical (i.e., the nose of the swine has become hard for the purpose of turning up the soil in search of insects and roots). Darwin who in his youth read his grandfather’s books with admiration, later commented that his grandfather “anticipated the views and erroneous grounds of opinion” of Lamarck. Nevertheless, Erasamus may have unconsciously influenced Darwin in preparing the way for evolution by natural selection.(Darwin, 1958)

In 1818, at the age of 9, Darwin entered the Shrewsbury school, which was ran by Dr. Butler. Darwin later recalled that “nothing could have been worse for the development of my mind than Dr. Butler’s school, as it was strictly classical, nothing else being taught , except a little ancient geography and history. The school as a means of education to me was simply a blank”(Darwin, 1958). He was removed from the school in 1825, and was sent to Edinburgh to study medicine. There he studied for two years before deciding that he didn’t like medicine. But before he left Edinburgh, he was introduced for the first time to the theories of Lamarck. According to Darwin at the time he was not very impressed with Lamarck’s ideas. (Bowler, 1990)

In 1828, at his father’s suggestion, Darwin entered Christ’s College in Cambridge to become a clergyman. To Darwin a good education meant instruction in the methods and logic of thought. Therefore, Just about the only thing he enjoyed studying there was Paley’s works on theology, because of their logic. For the rest, however, he judged Cambridge to be just as much a waste of time as Edinburgh and Shrewsbury. Nevertheless, in his spare time at Cambridge, Darwin became interested in various scientific endeavors, and became acquainted with and influenced by the scientific ideas of Henslow, Sedgwick, and Whewell (ironically Sedgwick later became a bitter opponent of Darwin’s theory). In addition, during his last year at Cambridge Darwin read two books which influenced him greatly, Herschel’s Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy, and Von Humboldt’s Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent. Darwin later confessed that these books inspired in him “a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science”.(Darwin, 1958)

Darwin graduated from Cambridge in 1831, and as he was pondering his future he received a proposal to join a scientific expedition that would survey the southern coast of Tierra del Fuego. Darwin accepted the proposal, and sailed from England aboard the famed Beagle on December 27, 1831. His job was to collect and catalogue new species so that they could be sent back for further research in England. It is commonly thought that Darwin used the voyage to test his theory of evolution, but this is highly unlikely. At the time Darwin’s interests were purely geological as can be seen by his correspondence with his sister. For instance, writing about the fossils which he discovered he said, “All the interest which I individually feel about these fossils is their connection with the geology of the Pampas”(Darwin, 1958). Furthermore, Darwin himself confessed that he could not have appreciated the significance of his findings while on the voyage, because he lacked the necessary training in dissection and drawing as well as the knowledge of comparative anatomy. It was only much later when Darwin returned from the voyage, and when Owen identified the fossils, that Darwin began to examine them as zoological, rather then geological, phenomena.(Himmelfarb,1959)

The voyage turned out to be very productive for Darwin, who upon his return in 1836 began to work on the conversion of the diary, which he kept during the voyage, into a journal suitable for publication. The Journal was first published in 1839 under the title “Journal and Remarks”, as Volume III of the Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. Adventures and Beagle.(Vorzimmer, 1970) However, enough people thought that Darwin’s work was sufficiently important to warrant a separate publication, and in 1845 a second edition was published under the name Journal of Research into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Round the World .

Darwin “Discovers” Evolution

It appears to be that only sometime in 1837 did Darwin first start to entertain the idea of evolution seriously. (Himmelfarb, 1959) The proof for this lies in the notebook that he kept from July 1837 to February 1838. In particular, the following statement from the notebook provides valuable insight: “In July opened first notebook on transmutation of species. Had been greatly struck from about the previous March on character of South American fossils, and species of Galapagos Archipelago. These facts (especially latter), origin of all my views”. (Vorzimmer, 1970)

Therefore, it must have been at this time that Darwin’s ideas took this turn. Additionally, had the change occurred earlier, it would have shown up in Darwin’s writing in the Journal, which, more than half completed by March, shows no trace of it. (Vorzimmer, 1970)

Overall, with the notable exception of the idea of natural selection, most of what Darwin later wrote in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (henceforth referred to as the Origin), was already sketched in that notebook. (Vorzimmer, 1970) It is important to note that Darwin’s thinking at this point was still distinctly teleological in character. He still believed that God had instituted the laws governing reproduction to maintain species in a state of perfect adaptation to their environment. Only after his full appreciation of the struggle for existence did he come to believe that a changed environment disturbs growth to produce random variation. Curiously, Darwin asserts that in originating his theory of evolution he was trying to follow “Baconian principles”, that is collect facts before theorizing. (Lewontin, 1974)

Specifically, in his autobiography he states “After my return to England it appeared to me that by following the example of Lyell in Geology, and by collecting all facts which bore in any way on the variation of animals and plants under domestication and nature, some light might perhaps be thrown on the whole subject. My first notebook was opened in July 1837. I worked on true Baconian principles, and without any theory collected facts on a wholesale scale…”.(Darwin, 1958) However, as his notebooks of the time amply demonstrate, he was speculating boldly from the very beginning in favor of evolution. In addition, Darwin himself at other times admitted his dislike for the “Baconian method”. (Vorzimmer, 1970)

For instance, in one of his correspondences he wrote “How odd it is that any one should not see that all observation must be for or against some view if it is to be of any service”. And elsewhere, “No one could be a good observer unless he was an active theorizer”. Therefore, a more accurate description of his method would be, “inventing a theory and seeing how many classes of facts the theory could explain”. (Himmelfarb,1959)

Early Theorizing

Darwin was fixated upon the “whys” of evolution. He contemplated such questions as “Why is life short ? Why does the individual die, and why do species die ? Why does nature put so high a premium on generation ? And why does generation have the twofold character of perpetuation and variation?” It seems that apart from the occasional reference to “adaptation”, Darwin, at that time, almost deliberately tried to avoid the contemporary theories of the mechanics of evolution. (Vorzimmer, 1970)

Notwithstanding, Darwin, sooner or later, had to confront the question of “how” evolution occurred. Amusingly, he happened to stumble upon the answer quite accidentally. In his spare time Darwin enjoyed reading various books rather aimlessly, for amusement. One of these books, which he read in October 1838, happened to be Malthus’ Essay on the Principle of Population. As Darwin himself later related, “Malthus’ description of the struggle for existence in human society immediately suggested to him that under the competitive conditions of animal and plant life, favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones destroyed, the result being the formation of new species”. By this chance encounter, Darwin’s theory was provided with a rationale, and the “how” of evolution came to supplement the “why”. (Bowler,1990)

It is important to note, that even though Malthus inspired the crux of Darwin’s theory, Darwin diverged from Malthus in a critical way. Darwin’s debt to Malthus lies in the borrowing of the concept of the “struggle for existence”. However, in general, what Malthus was concerned about was not how the struggle for existence affected the quality of the population (i.e., he did not suggest that in the struggle for existence the strong survive and the weak perish) but simply how it limited its numbers. Indeed, Malthus’ essay was written as a rebuttal to Godwin and Condorcet, both of whom had argued that humans, under conditions of equality, were capable of infinite progress and perfection. (Lewontin, 1974)

In the essay, Malthus advanced the “principle of population” to refute that idea. Thus, Malthus’ principle argued that “human society could never progress toward perfectibility because the population inevitably tends to increase beyond the means of subsistence and is kept within the bounds of its resources only by misery, vice, and moral restraint”. Malthus’ principle of population was based on the supposed differences in reproduction rates between humans and animals and plants (who could only increase “arithmetically”, because they served mankind as a means of sustenance). (Vorzimmer, 1970)

Darwin by contrast, shifted the center of attention from humans to the animal and plant kingdoms, because he was impressed by their enormous natural fertility, which was kept in check only by their own limited means of sustenance. By shifting his perspective from mankind to animals and plants.

Darwin revealed the basic fallacy of Malthus’ argument. For if humans increased geometrically, animals and plants must also increase at the same rate, and perhaps even more, because overall their natural rate of reproduction is higher than that of mankind. Therefore, the struggle for existence, which to Malthus meant that hardship and misery were the defining features of human life, to Darwin meant that every species was in constant change, because nature favored the fittest through the process of natural selection .(Vorzimmer, 1970)

Writing the Origin

Three and a half years have passed since Darwin read Malthus in October 1838 before he finally sat down to write his ideas formally in May 1842. There are two main reasons for this lengthy delay. First, throughout his life Darwin suffered from ill health, which began to get acute in 1837, and was particularly debilitating between 1838 and 1842. Second, during this time Darwin had more pressing matters to attend to. In particular he was working on the book, Coral Reefs, papers for the Geological society, and work connected with the Zoology of the voyage of the Beagle. (Bowler, 1990)

After completing the initial first sketch of 35 pages, he set out to write a larger and more thrall sketch in 1844. By the time he was finished the sketch numbered 230 pages. However, Darwin still proceeded to write his ideas on evolution at a “leisurely” pace, and not until 1856, when urged by his colleague Lyell, did he start working on his magnum opus, the Origin. (Darwin, 1958)

By June 1858, Darwin had completed about half of the book (on a scale three to four times as large as when it was later published), when one day a nasty surprise awaited him. On June 18, Darwin received a manuscript from the English naturalist Wallace. In the manuscript Wallace described the theory of natural selection, and asked Darwin to comment on his ideas. Darwin thought that the only honorable thing to do was to recommend the paper for publication. (Vorzimmer, 1970)

Fortunately for Darwin, Lyell suggested (and Wallace and Darwin accepted) that both Wallace’s paper and extracts from Darwin’s sketch of 1844 be published simultaneously, thus establishing the rights of both to priority. Interestingly, later on at the fiftieth anniversary meeting of their joint publication, Wallace made it clear that although the idea of natural selection came to both of them independently, Darwin’s contributions outweighed his by twenty to one because Darwin had the credit of twenty years of priority and work.

The impact of the Origin

Finally, by 1859 Darwin finished writing the book, and on November 24 the Origin was first published. The sales of the book exceeded everyone’s expectations (by 1876 16,000 copies were sold in England alone), and the book’s impact was felt almost immediately. Even those who most bitterly despised its content were quick to concede its importance. (Himmelfarb, 1959)

Within the scientific community the book was creating a new paradigm that threatened to disrupt the existing status quo. The mood of the time is illustrated by August Weismann who states: “Darwin’s book fell like a bolt from the blue; it was eagerly devoured, and while it excited in the minds of the younger students delight and enthusiasm, it aroused among the older naturalists anything from cool aversion to violent opposition”. (Bowler, 1990)The young saw in Darwin an opportunity for a new and freer philosophical universe. However, the older more professional scientists objected to Darwin’s ideas on religious grounds. Before Darwin published the Origin, science and religion existed in harmony. There was an understanding on the part of religion that evolution was discredited by science. Now that men of science were finally favorites of the church (just two centuries ago scientists such as Galileo were unfavorably perceived by the church), it seemed foolish to give up this hard won peace for just another evolutionary hypothesis. (Vorzimmer, 1970)

Conclusion

Darwin left us a legacy, which is greater than just the sum of his scientific work. Not only did his theory of evolution illuminate our past, but also the present and the future are now possible to interpret in “Darwinian terms”. Probably more so than any other scientific theory, Darwin’s theory of evolution lends itself to various social interpretations known as “social Darwinism”. From the radical left to the radical right, Darwin’s theory has been adopted by such people as Marx and Hitler, each of whom saw in it evidence for their own ideology. Although he never started out that famous voyage on the Beagle alongside the likes of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, Darwin has rightly earned his place in history as one of the giants of the scientific revolution.

Bowler, Peter J. Charles Darwin the Man and His Influence. London: Basil Blackwell Ltd. 1990

Himmelfarb, Gertrude. Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution. New York: Doubleday & Company Inc., 1959

Lewontin, R. C. Darwin and Mendel-the Materialist Revolution. In: Neyman (ed.) The Heritage of Copernicus. Cambridge: MIT Press. 1974.

Poirier, F.E.; McKee, J.K. Understanding Human Evolution. Forth Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1999

Wilson, E.O. The Diversity of Life. New Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.1999

Vorzimmer, Peter J. Charles Darwin: The years of Controversy; The Origin of Species and its Critics 1859-1882. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 1970

Darwin, Charles Robert. Darwin, Francis, editor. The Autobiography of Charles Darwin and Selected Letters. New York: Dover publications Inc. 1958.