HIST-UA 105 Lecture Notes - Social Darwinism, Sexual Selection, Heredity
Document Summary
Chapter i is that heredity is the key to explaining variation. selection to analyze the development of race types within species. In discussing selection, he notes that some traits are more useful or helpful than others and that these traits will be selected both consciously (by breeders) and unconsciously as the species evolves. Unconsciously selected traits develop naturally over time, often helping certain species adapt to their environments and increase their rates of survival. Darwin"s conclusions about variations also contradict the idea, widely held at the time, that an act of. Darwin"s use of the termcreation is ambiguous here, but it could easily be interpreted as a reference to creationism (the idea that god created each species). Darwin"s reference to creationism is an implied critique of the teachings of christianity a daring move, given the influence of christianity in darwin"s time.