Charles Darwin’s Scientific Works and Their Importance

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Main body
Conclusion
References

Introduction

In this essay, I will argue that Charles Darwin’s seminal biological work is of inestimable importance to society. Released more than half a century ago, Darwin’s academic work On the Origin of Species significantly influenced nineteenth-century philosophical worldviews and even overturned the conventional understanding of the world order as previously defined by religious or pseudoscientific concepts. This essay consistently answers questions about the basic content of Darwin’s teachings, their revolutionary nature, and the effect the book had on society.

Main body

Darwin’s scientific work’s foundation was the visible phenomenon of biological diversity observed among populations of living creatures. The naturalist was among the first to make the bold assumption about life’s evolution and the genetic relationship between all organisms (Worrall). Darwin’s key assumptions, influenced by the British economist Malthus, were the connection between population growth and the resources necessary for survival (King 2). In his book, in particular, the scientist noted that a high reproduction rate coupled with a low mortality rate would result in unlimited growth over geological time. At the same time, the population proper increases geometrically, and in some cases, exponentially. It follows from these words that the ideal population model is capable of infinite growth, but this phenomenon is impossible in practice. The brakes on any population’s growth are biological factors, including mutations, the number of resources and competition, and ecological ones.

The question of variation and biological mutations has become another important milestone in the study of evolution. Charles Darwin observed that modern descendants differ from ancestral forms in both external and internal structures. An explanation for this phenomenon could be the accumulation of useful mutations that allowed organisms to adapt to changing environmental conditions. For instance, a textbook illustration of such a bioprocess is the darkening of the London butterfly’s coloration caused by the widespread industrialization of society a century ago. Toxic fumes and smog caused the darkening of tree bark, which forced the butterflies to change their coloration: the white insects could no longer survive on the dark surface because of predatory birds, then only the dark ones remained.

Finally, approaching the hypothesis of natural selection, Darwin also traced the tendency for descendants to retain their ancestors’ traits. It is heredity, according to Darwin, that underlies the similarity between parent and child. The mathematical justification for this hypothesis can be seen in Mendel’s genetic laws, which formally showed exactly how the following generations could receive genes from their parents. When an embryo is formed, in particular, parental and maternal gametes fuse, leading to the formation of common, integrative phenotypic traits (Boundless 2). All of this together led Darwin to conclude that the source of evolution and its driving force is natural selection. This process concentrates on such concepts as mutation, accumulation, the struggle for existence, and survival.

Indeed, such a naturalistic explanation of life could not but cause serious controversy and debate. Darwin’s theory was extremely skillful in answering the question of the origin and development of life, linking the traits of modern humans with those who lived decades and hundreds of thousands of years ago. Furthermore, the academician managed to find an incredibly complete and mechanical interpretation to such a complex philosophical question. Certainly, such an approach could not satisfy Charles Darwin’s contemporaries, who were deeply convinced of the truth of the world’s religious or supernatural nature. The fact that the biological world probably evolved according to Darwin’s way caused dissonance and denial in society, caused by contradictions with their usual picture of the world. It is worth recalling that by then, most people were convinced of alternative biological theories of the origin, such as vitalism, creationism, or stationary existence hypotheses. Nevertheless, the revolutionary work on the origin of species eventually gained incredible popularity and public acceptance to the point of being taught in secondary schools. It was a clear paradigm shift in society in which a worldview based on supernatural, incomprehensible forces and energies was displaced by a rationalist, logically rigorous doctrine of sequential biological processes.

Darwin’s writings influenced not only the academic community but beyond it. The boldness and radicalism that natural selection brought to a traditionalist, conservative society caused a philosophical paradigm shift in the perception of humans in the universe. A religious culture formed and solidified before the publication of revolutionary teachings viewed humans as the link of creation and the pinnacle of power in the universe. Religious teachings defined human individuals’ resemblance to God’s image, which in itself meant their superiority of them over the rest of the natural world. However, Darwin transformed this culture by showing that the world was, in fact, the product of random mutations and biological errors. Indeed, this concept greatly diminished the significance of Homo sapiens for nature and certainly did not show humans as the pinnacle of divine creation.

It is a mistake to think that Charles Darwin’s writings are of local significance only for the nineteenth century. On the contrary, even in today’s world, there is an ongoing philosophical debate between the theological and evolutionist communities, with the latter using the academic’s concepts as arguments to prove their case. Moreover, the fact that natural selection is taught to students at an early age illustrates the general orientation of the modern academic community. Teachers and schools now prefer to talk about the testimony and the paleontological evidence that argues Darwin is right. In reality, the concept leaves many justifiable questions, but it has more scientific evidence and integration with various fields of knowledge than any other.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it must be noted that Charles Darwin’s scientific work was truly revolutionary not only for the academic community. The idea of natural selection compiling mutations, accumulations, and struggles for existence served as a powerful cultural phenomenon, initiating a shift in the public theological paradigm. Darwin’s theory has become so deeply integrated into modern society that it is common in secondary schools and everyday discussions.

References

Boundless. “Mendel’s Laws of Heredity.”LibreTexts, 2020. Web.

King, Samuel Olugbenga. “Malthus, Erasmus, Agnosticism and Darwin: Reasons for the Massive Uptake of the Theory of Evolution as Explanation for the Origin of Life through Natural Selection.”n.d. Web.

Worrall, Simon. “What Darwin Didn’t Know About Evolution.”National Geographic, 2018. Web.

Click Here To Order Now!

Charles Darwin’s Scientific Works and Their Importance

Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?

We have qualified writers to help you.

We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.

You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)