Darwin's Theories example essay topic

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury England at about the same hour as Abraham Lincoln. He was born to a successful family, his father was a doctor and his grandfather was a famous biologist. Darwin was not a great student and he decided to become a clergy so he transferred to Cambridge University. Instead of becoming clearly Darwin decided to study geology.

After school Darwin became naturalist on board the royal navy ship the Beagle. The Beagle left England on December 27, 1831 this was a small ship with a crew of 74, Darwin had a small laboratory and a hammock to sleep on, he suffered bad seasickness. Darwin's job aboard the Beagle allowed him to study on many different continents. He found the remains of giant rodents and many different types of finches. Darwin was very interested with how natural events could shape the earths surface. At the time, most geologists adhered to the so-called catastrophist theory that the earth had experienced a succession of creations of animal and plant life, and that each creation had been destroyed by a sudden catastrophe, such as an upheaval or convulsion of the earths surface.

According to this theory, the most recent catastrophe Noah's flood, wiped away all life except those forms taken into the ark. The rest were visible only in the form of fossils. In the view of the catastrophist's, species were individually created and immutable that is unchangeable for all time. In the Galapagos Islands, off the coast of Ecuador, he also observed that each island supported its own form of tortoise, mockingbird, and finch the various forms were closely related but differed in structure and eating habits from island to island. Both observations raised the question, for Darwin, of possible links between distinct but similar species. When Darwin returned to England he began to piece together what he learned on his voyage.

This is when the theory of natural selection is born. Darwin noticed that most species could reproduce very quickly, they could double there population but did not. He also noticed that many species had become extinct but did not know why. The reason he believed was that species adapted to better suit there surrounding, those that were better suited lived and those that were not well suited to there environment died.

Darwin alleged that sometimes a creature was born that was different from the rest, a mutant, a creature that had somehow had its DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid) changed. If these traits that it possesses that made it different were useful than that creature may reproduce more than normal. Of course in Darwin's day DNA had not been discovered but it was known that traits were passed to offspring. Natural selection is when the organisms with good traits survive the trials of nature. Artificial selection is what breeders do, the cow that gives more milk, or the plant that produces larger fruit are selected to be reproduced.

Encyclopedia Encarta defines natural selection as "the process by which environmental effects lead to varying degrees of reproductive success among individuals of a population of organisms with different hereditary characters, or traits. The characters that inhibit reproductive success decrease in frequency from generation to generation. The resulting increase in the proportion of reproductively successful individuals usually enhances the adaptation of the population to its environment" Darwin's Theories upset the church, one of the things that he proposed was that all living things may have descended from the same species. Today it is believed that life may have started as replicating molecules. Darwin introduced the idea that life is not just evolving but the earth is also changing. This went against creationism, the Bible says that god created the world and all the animals.

It also separated man from the animals because god created man in his likeness. Darwin is of course famous for his book On The Origin Of Species, it took him Two decades to right. He was methodical and worked very hard, this caused his digestive system to become weak. Darwin became reluctant to publish his book because he felt harm might come to him or his family if he did. In the PBS documentary Evolution Darwin's Dangerous Idea Darwin becomes more bent of publishing his book after his daughter dies because he feels a good god would not let an innocent person die. Darwin's theory had been released in 1858 and was controversial from the start.

When Origin was released in 1859 it sold out the first day. The reaction to the Origin was immediate. Some biologists argued that Darwin could not prove his hypothesis. Others criticized Darwin's concept of variation, arguing that he could explain neither the origin of variations nor how they were passed to succeeding generations. This particular scientific objection was not answered until the birth of modern genetics in the early 20th century The Bible is not that clear about creation, it does say that earth was made about 6000 years ago, and that it took only 6 day. Te Bible says that God created many kinds of animals and man.

Therefore the points of contention between the Creation and Evolution communities are focused upon the Origin of Life and the Evolution of Man. Although many disagree, it is beyond reasonable doubt that evolution occurs, breeding proves this. The Bible never said anything definite about there not being evolution. So some say that god created the universe and simply said, "go", then whatever happened happened.

Scientists are religious and a large percentage of those believing in god also believe in Darwin's theories. It is possible to find moderation as long as u do not take all of the Bibles stories for exactly what they say and do not look for the true meaning. It is likely that stories in the bible were created to teach ignorant people a lesson in a simple way. If a man wanted to teach his son something and just said do not steal the message might not get through. If the boy was told about someone who stole and how there sole turned evil than it is more likely that the warning would be heeded. Parts of the Bible were originally stories passed orally, people might have just made up the Bible.

Perhaps the story's of the Bible were made up to teach a lesson but over time people forgot they were just stories. However many of the events depicted in the Bible are well documented from reliable sources. If science can prove parts of the Bible it does not mean the whole thing is false. Those who question Darwin's theories place the burden of proof on scientists and say that is impossible to answer everything because god cannot be explained. If nobody was at the creation of earth how is it known that it happened billions of years ago and that it was completely natural. The believers of Darwin say that more facts support evolution than creation.

If the Bible cannot be proven than it is not true. Darwin spent the rest of his life expanding on different aspects of problems raised in the Origin. His later books-including The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of the Emotions in Animals and Man (1872) -were detailed expositions of topics that had been confined to small sections of the Origin. In Origins Darwin did not discuss human evolution but many people apply his laws to society. This is called social Darwinism; according to this theory those born with useful traits in the modern human world will survive.

The people with higher intelligent or useful skills will become rich and successful wail those are less intelligent or posses no useful skills will be poor. Through the years, social Darwinism became widely popular and was used to justify predatory capitalism, social classes, racial prejudices, and imperialism. One of the many social Darwinist's was a man named William Graham Sumner. In his lectures and writings, Sumner became one of the leading proponents of laissez-faire economics and social Darwinism, opposing all government efforts to regulate business or to combat social inequality. In his book, It is Not Wicked to Be Rich, Sumner spoke of social classes in the United States.

He argued that social existence was a competitive struggle among individuals possessing different natural capacities and traits. Overall, those with better traits succeeded, becoming wealthy and powerful, while those lacking in inner discipline or intelligence sank into poverty. Many interpreted Darwin's work differently, some fell that his principals are for everything like government and economics. Others believe that they apply only to biology. Perhaps the most well know debate about evolution was The Scopes Monkey Trial witch took place from July 10-25 1925. It started when a high school teacher and football coach John T. Scopes decided to teach evolution to his science class.

This caused a tremendous uproar witch lead to a trial. The trial was to determine whether he taught evolution or not, evolution was a hot topic at the time and the trial was used to try to combat fundamentalism in politics at the time. It turned into a media circus, the defense was lead by Clarence Darrow a well know lawyer who donated his services. William Jennings Bryan headed the prosecution. Darrow argued that the stories of the Bible were not to be interpreted literally, and Bryan c lamed that the trial was not about the Bible but whether or not Scopes taught evolution. Scopes was guilty and that is what the court found, he only received a 100-dollar fine but the question ahead was clear.

Should the law be changed to allow evolution to be taught? On January 14, 1927, the State Supreme Court in Nashville handed down a decision, which reversed the earlier one. However, the court's decision stemmed from the very point Darrow sought to avoid - a technicality. Darwin was the start of a change in thinking, and he is the father of modern biology. He was a remarkable thinker whom without natural selection and evolution may have Darwin was elected to the prestigious Royal Society a few days before his marriage. In September 1842 he and his family moved to Down House in the English county of Kent, where he spent the rest of his life.

Darwin suffered from increasing ill health over the years. Many theories have been put forth as to the nature of his illness. One that is widely held is that he suffered from Chagas' disease, a tropical ailment that affects the nervous system, as the result of a bite he got in Brazil. Other theories hold that the illness was essentially psychosomatic, with a wide range of possible causes. He died at the age of 73 at Down House on April 19, 1882.