Darwin’s Theories and Discoveries
After graduating from Cambridge in 1831, he was brought aboard the English survey ship HMS Beagle as an unpaid naturalist and was set to go on a scientific expedition around the world. Darwin set sail on 27 December that year for what was to be a five-year journey. The most important part of the voyage for Darwin turned out to be a few weeks spent in the Galapagos islands, which are on the equator about 1000km from the coast of South America. These islands had plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world. Darwin was surprised to discover that each island had its own particular kind of tortoise (slight variations). He wanted to find out why this was. When he got home he found that the birds had slightly different features on each island and on the South American mainland and from this observation he developed his theory of natural selection. This theory proposed that although most young animals die, the ones that survive are the ones best suited to their environments and way of life. His theory of evolution is based on this idea .If every now and again an animal is born which has some feature which gives it a survival advantage, it will survive, and so will its offspring with the same features. This is how natural selection enables a particular population to evolve. Darwin’s theory was subject to vast opposition especially from the Church of England as it conflicted with some of the Bible’s teaching about creation. But few people nowadays doubt the basic truth of his theory. After a along inspirational life he died in 1882 at the age of 73.
Darwin’s Theory was Expanding on the Theories of Ancient Philosopher
The theory of evolution came into view by the re-awakening of
ancient materialistic philosophies and became widespread in the 19th
century. This philosophy supposes that matter is absolute and infinite. This
materialistic philosophy does not hold anything to be real except the
matter, so it tries to explain the universe and nature through purely
material factors. Since it denies creation right from the start, it puts
forward that every being, whether animate or inanimate, appeared without any
means of creation, but by mere coincidence and then acquired an order.
However, the human mind is organised to comprehend the existence of an
organising will wherever it sees an order. Materialistic philosophy, which
is contrary to this very basic characteristic of the human mind, produced
"the theory of evolution" in the middle of the 19th century.