Evolution Darwin?

Question

How would one define evolution in terms of darwins theories? I need to include natural selection and survival of the fittest--passing on genes, etc.

Answer 1

http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.c...

Answer 2

first of all its best to note that on Darwins death bed he stated that he disregarded his theory and his writings. this is because according to him religion ie genesis does not exist and therefore when you die that is it. he saw that there had to be more to life than just the here and now as his was coming to an end. to me his teachings do not disregard genesis but support the fact that we were all created by one supreme being. we are all related genetically because we are all based on the same principle and design. eyes to see, mouth to eat, feet to walk stand and move. ask yourself if you were God wouldn't you follow the same principles if you knew they worked??? all car manufacturers follow the same principles to make a car. but make small alterations and develop different models different shape and size. they all have a steering wheel, four wheels, engine and seats. thats how we get the domestic house cat and the Lion. basically the same with small alterations, imagine if god reated everything the same what a boring world it would be.

Pretty cool when you think about it.

Answer 3

While not on point some misinformation needs be corrected:

There's lots of "Darwin denounced evolution" claims but no documentation. The Lady Hope claim has been refuted.

"Shortly after his death, the story began to spread that Darwin converted to Christianity and renounced his theories on his deathbed. The story was refuted by his family at the time, and in a 1985 biography of Darwin."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworceste...

About the myth and Lady Hope, His daughter wrote: "I was present at his deathbed," she wrote in the Christian for February 23, 1922. "Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness. I believe he never even saw her, but in any case she had no influence over him in any department of thought or belief. He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier."

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/hope.htm...

Darwin never claimed that "man descended from apes." It was about natural selection and that an organisim that adapts to it's enviorment will pass it's genes on.

Lady Hope alleged Darwin recanted. It didn't happen but some people want to believe it.

Answer 4

Darwin's theories does not include the concept of genes, as that observation was not made until Gregor Mendel. Darwin's hypothesis was that heredity was passed down via pangenesis, which is proven false.

However, the following aspects of Theory of Evolution by Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace are currently accepted:

From fossil records Darwin established that:

- Species of living things are constantly changing (evolving)

- This change is gradual and continuous.

Conclusion: Similar species most likely had a common ancestor. (See Tree of Life)

Further observations Darwin found that:

- There are adaptive traits and maladaptive traits.

- There is a large variation of traits within species.

Conclusion: This change (evolution) is random and not a "drive towards perfection"

The so called "Survival of the Fittest" (as later people put it) arise from Darwin's observation that:

- All living things have the potential to increase their population exponentially (large number of offspring).

- Population of most species remain fairly constant with time.

Conclusion: There is some form of competition within the species for "reproductive success." (See Natural Selection)

Extension:

- Individuals having more adaptive traits will have more reproductive success, that trait will be passed on with more frequency in the subsequent generations.

- Individuals having maladaptive traits will have less reproductive success, that trait will decrease in frequency and may eventually disappear.

In summary, the 3 main points of Darwinian evolution are are:

1) Variation (in traits) - (now known as Genetic Variation) Darwin did not know about genes, but he did observe the variation in their expressed traits.

2) Heredity - Traits are passed down from generation to generation.

3) Difference in reproductive success - Individuals with better adapted traits will produce more offspring that will successfully reproduce.

Answer 5

Although it is true Darwin himself never understood the concept of inheritance correctly (ie genes), when one says Darwin's theories, they basically mean the core of modern evolutionary thought, and that is simply this.

Variety exists in nature.  Because there are not enough resources for all, there must be a competition for these resources (this competition need not be direct battles, it can be simply be exploiting a resource before others can).  If an organism has some special feature (say, a different copy of a gene) that allows it to better adapt, survive, and exploit resources necessary for its survival, it will be more likely to survive to reproduce, and therefore pass on its genes (including its better gene).  Over time, this continued selection for the better gene will make it grow in frequency, and that, simply, is evolution.

Answer 6

Darwin argued that the development of any one species from it's ancestor would be by long and gradual progression which passed through a countless number of intermediate forms. He realized that, if his theory was correct, thousands of these intermediate forms must have existed. He further realized that upon the existence of these forms his theory stood or fell. He wrote, the number of intermediate and transitional links, between all living and extinct species, must have been inconceivably great, but assuredly, if this theory be true, such have lived upon the earth. But 'why?' he asked, raising his own doubts, do we not find them embedded in countless numbers in the crust of the earth? He was painfully aware of the lack of such fossils in the geological strata. He stalled ; the answer mainly lies in the [fossil] record being less perfect than is generally supposed.These facts continued to haunt him and he devoted a whole chapter of his book to the imperfections of the geological record, and he felt the necessity to place in print his confidence. That in future ages, many fossil links will be discovered.

       Amazingly, given the vast resources applied to the task over the years, the effort has failed. Professor Gould revealed that, The extreme rarity of transitional forms in the fossil record persists as the trade secret of paleontology.

     PS. If the fossil record does not throw up the missing links as expected. What then does it throw up ?

(absolutely nothing)

Answer 7

Don't worry about it. Darwinian evolution is based on faulty assumptions and bad logic. It is not even a theory. It does not even have a scientific hypothesis. Let it rest in the dustbin of history, alongside geocentrism and phrenology.