Isabelle Larocque

Mr Olivier Patenaude
EAE3U
April 24, 2017

Unit 3 - Research Essay: Charles Darwin

The Origin of Life and Its Evolution on Earth: A mystery that has fascinated man since the

beginning of time. Greek philosophers were the first to set the issue, but their theories were essentially

evolutionist: They had alleged that the human being would connect with the animal and descend from

aquatic creatures. Others, like Aristotle, proposed another vision where species would be eternal. In

the Middle Ages, the church resumed settlement, attributing the top of the hierarchy to God.

According to believers, His human creation would stand in the midst of other species. But in the 18th

century, the discoveries of fossilized creatures shatter this conception. The living being would have

gradually changed since its appearance. Some species would even be extinct. What is the mechanism

of this evolution? What factors determine extinction? Taking a step forward from Jean-Baptiste

Lamarck and his theory of Transmutation of Species, Charles Darwin and his theory of natural

selection solved a part of this big enigma in the 19th century. Therefore, Charles Darwin proposed

one of the greatest contributions ever made to science, which makes him worthy of being in the top

100 of the most influential people of the last millennium.

Charles Darwin was best known for his work as a naturalist. On December 27, 1831, Darwin

embarked for a 5-year survey voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle, a ship in charge of

mapping the South American coast. Over the course of the trip, he collected fossils and a variety of

natural specimens of flora and fauna. It was especially in the Galapagos Islands, in 1835, that his

observations led him to elaborate the outline of his theory. He noticed that the same species found on

several islands had notable differences. For instance, depending on the island or area, finchs beaks

were adapted to different foods (refer to Annex 1).1 Darwin began to develop a revolutionary theory

about the origin of living beings that contradicted the popular view of other naturalists at that time.

1
http://www.hominides.com/html/biographies/charles_darwin.php
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His studies of specimens around the globe led him to lay the foundation stone of his famous

theory of evolution and natural selection, that consisted of:

Natural selection: It is the animals most adapted to their environment that would survive, and

that they would be the ones most likely to reproduce, and thus to transmit their genes.

Gradual evolution: Species would know unsystematic, natural variations, transmitted from

generation to generation. That is, if these variations allowed survival and reproduction.

Branching evolution: If men and animals have similarities in the physical expression of their

emotions, their capacity would be acquired from a distant common ancestor. Every species

would descend from a common ancestor; man would therefore descend from the monkey.2

Non-constancy of species: Sp ecies would adapt to their environment and develop specific

characteristics that would gradually transform into a new species. The concerned species

would evolve to the point where its specificities would differentiate from the earlier species.

In other words, a new species would result from a hereditary transmission.3

He consolidated this theory thanks to a theology distant enough from natural sciences: The

Essay on the Principle of Population from Malthus, a British economist. Thanks to geometric ratio,

Malthus demonstrated that as the population would increase perpetually, there would be a struggle for

survival, and only people with any advantage would survive.

Darwins contribution to science was both profound and original. Although his

accomplishments were so diverse, they could be divided into two principal fields: Basic or

fundamental sciences, and social sciences.4 Darwin was not the first to argue that our world was

constantly evolving, but he was the first to prove this idea convincingly, notably by proposing an

explanatory mechanism. He found no interest in ambiguous assumptions borrowed from basic

research; contrariwise he endeavored to analyze living beings corresponding their own fundamentals.

2
http://www.boite-aux-curiosites.com/darwin-et-la-selection-naturelle/
3
http://www.hominides.com/html/theories/theories-evolutionnisme.php
4
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/darwins-influence-on-modern-thought/
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Darwin was the founder of evolutionary biology, of linear evolution: Not only did he clarify the

understanding of life, but he did so while being way ahead of his time. Without any understanding of

modern genetics, he still found a way to create a radical and visionary theory with diverse

applications. Now, why is evolution so important? Thanks to Darwin, evolution plays an important

role in solving biological and medical problems: For instance, to stay one step ahead of pathogenic

diseases, researches must understand evolutionary patterns of the organisms causing this disease. As

for hereditary diseases, they must comprehend the evolutionary histories of disease-causing genes. In

other words, evolution can improve quality of life.5 Before Darwin, it is crucial to mention that there

was no field of ecology. Today, ecological awareness is more and more accentuated, thanks to

evolution.6

In the history of science, a great thinkers influence in one field can likely penetrate to many

related fields. However, a man whose influence dominates in other fields than his own, is less likely.

Yet, this is undoubtedly Darwins case; and his influence to this day is seen more clearly in sociology

than in any other field outside of his own. Unlike other scientists, Darwin did not repercuss on natural

science with an endless doctrine. For instance, while Einsteins ingenious report (published in 1905) is

still remembered to this day as the starting point for todays comprehension of relativity, Darwins

The Origin of Species is only helpful to historians, and has the slightest scientific importance.7

Darwin's work has had an immense influence on practically all lines of human thought, especially on

the biological, psychological, and social sciences. The significant reason for the compelling

repercussion which Darwin's work has had upon sociology is presumably the evidence that his work

was an element of sociologys foundations. As a field about the origin and evolution, formation and

responsibility of humanity, sociology could not flourish until biology had evolved. The rivalry

between human groups (through war, for instance) and the culminating eradication of those who were

inferior or who participated incompetently, was one of the preeminent explanations of the

5
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/medicine_06
6
https://www.bu.edu/darwin2009/about/darwinsimpact/
7
http://www.ricestandard.org/charles-darwin-and-his-impact/
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breakthrough to higher classes of civil association. All the higher classes were said to be 'fixed' by

natural selection in a similar sense that the higher classes of the living are. Natural selection

influenced humankind in many other approaches as well, such as, in the way birth and death rates

influence distinct classes in complex human groups. Darwins effect introduced the genetic point of

view, so that sociology would put significance upon the research on social development instead of on

social framework, making it a science of social evolution instead of a science of social organization.

With that said, Charles Darwin proposed one of the greatest contributions ever made to

science, which makes him worthy of being in the top 100 of the most influential people of the last

millennium. Although Darwin's theory of evolution has been and may have to be adapted by future

biologists, his work undoubtedly instituted biology upon a solid scientific basis. The theory of

evolution by selection has brought promise into the world that human catastrophe in its worst

structures can itself be disciplined. This theory, in one fashion or another, had existed way ahead of

the intellectual realm, but it was never fully accepted until Darwins arrival. Darwin's work has

acknowledged to tremendously enhance a variety of sciences in any way linked with biology.

Darwin must be given the seat of highest honor as the most fructifying thinker which the nineteenth

century produced, not only in England, but in the whole world.8 Considering how Darwins theory

was proven in many ways, could this extraordinary variety of the living really be explained by the

idea that God had created all the species on Earth in six days?

Annex 1

8
https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Ellwood/Ellwood_1909b.html
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Works Cited

ENDEAN, Jon. (2009, November 24). Charles Darwin and His Impact, Rice Standard,
http://www.ricestandard.org/charles-darwin-and-his-impact/

Darwin - Biographie - Dossiers - Hominids,

http://www.hominides.com/html/biographies/charles_darwin.php

(2015, September 2nd). Darwin et la slection naturelle, La Bote Aux Curiosits,

http://www.boite-aux-curiosites.com/darwin-et-la-selection-naturelle/

Darwins Finches - Wikipedia

http://www.boite-aux-curiosites.com/darwin-et-la-selection-naturelle/

Greater Boston Darwin Bicentennial, Boston University,

https://www.bu.edu/darwin2009/about/darwinsimpact/

MAYR, Ernst. (2009, November 24). Darwins Influence on Modern Thought, Scientific American,
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/darwins-influence-on-modern-thought/

ELLWOOD, Charles A. (1909). The Influence of Darwin on Sociology,

https://brocku.ca/MeadProject/Ellwood/Ellwood_1909b.html

Evolutionnisme - Darwinisme - Charles Darwin - Thories - Hominids,

http://www.hominides.com/html/theories/theories-evolutionnisme.php

Understanding evolution is important

http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/medicine_06