Did Darwin himself use the phrase "survival of the fittest"?

Question

PLEASE do not just answer yes or no. I'm looking for an answer from someone who knows if the specific phrase "survival of the fittest" was first coined by Darwin himself.

Answer 1

No.....his theory is based on natural selection which is based on the fact that those who produce more offspring with high survival rates have a greater chance of passing on their genetics. Therefore, those organisms would be considered more reproductively "fit" when compared to others of the same population.

Think of it this way, two male stags with massive antlers are fighting over who will breed with a nearby doe in heat.  As the two mature stags are fighting, a younger stag with a less impressive rack walks off with with the doe. Who was more fit?? Conventional wisdom would lead one to think that the mature stags were more fit, but the stag that actually passed on his genetic material was more fit.

Also, the phrase "survival of the fittest" actually came about during the social Darwinist movement. Darwin's book "Origin of Species" does not actually use the phrase "Survival of the Fittest."

Answer 2

Natural selection

Answer 3

To address your supplementary question.... like many a  politician, libertarians wanted a good buzzword to attach to their ideals. "Darwinism" had caught on as an accepted, and trendy, interpretation of the natural world, and libertarians picked up the word so that people would 'hear between the lines' that "social Darwinism" was "good for the future of our society".

Answer 4

"Survival of the fittest" was coined by Spencer, who, as the above poster mentioned, was a social Darwinist.  Social darwinism, by the way, was a political movement that has nothing to do with biological evolution.