Darwinism
Survival-based evolution theory
Darwinism is the theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin, holding that species change over time through natural selection—organisms with traits better suited to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully.
The term sometimes carries a whiff of ideology rather than science, used by critics who treat evolution as mere belief.
Social Darwinism misapplied these ideas to human society, arguing that competition among people or nations was natural and beneficial—a view now widely discredited.
Darwinism revolutionized our understanding of life on Earth.
Species changing over generations
- natural selectionDifferential reproductive success
- survival of the fittestAdaptive advantage perpetuates species
- common descentAll organisms share forebears
- adaptationFitting to new conditions
speciation · variation · heredity · transmutation · gradualism · sexual selection · fitness · struggle for existence
- GalapagosEcuadorian Pacific archipelago
- finchesSmall seed-eating birds
- Victorian eraBritain under its longest-reigning queen
- geologistStudies rocks and minerals
Huxley · biogeography · fossils · naturalist · voyage · barnacles · Malthus · correspondence
Permanent DNA alteration
- alleleGene variant at one locus
- genotypeOrganism's complete allele set
- phenotypeObservable characteristics of organism
- gene poolSpecies' total genetic diversity
heritability · inheritance · reproductive success · genetic drift · selective pressure · recombination · polymorphism
Divine origin doctrine
- intelligent designPurposeful cause over randomness
- eugenicsControlled human reproduction theory
- missing linkUndiscovered ancestral connection
- fundamentalismStrict adherence to core tenets
pseudoscience · scientific consensus · debate · atheism · materialism · secularism · reductionism · teleology
Worldview excluding the supernatural
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
- materialismPrioritizing goods over spirit
- mechanismMeans by which something operates
reductionism · positivism · essentialism · contingency · functionalism · progressivism · teleology · humanism
evolution
Species changing over generations
- natural selectionDifferential reproductive success
- survival of the fittestAdaptive advantage perpetuates species
- common descentAll organisms share forebears
adaptation · speciation · variation · heredity · transmutation · gradualism · sexual selection · fitness · struggle for existence · tree of life
HMS Beagle
- GalapagosEcuadorian Pacific archipelago
- finchesSmall seed-eating birds
- Victorian eraBritain under its longest-reigning queen
Huxley · geologist · biogeography · fossils · naturalist · voyage · barnacles · Malthus · correspondence · notebooks
mutation
Permanent DNA alteration
- alleleGene variant at one locus
- genotypeOrganism's complete allele set
- phenotypeObservable characteristics of organism
gene pool · heritability · inheritance · reproductive success · genetic drift · selective pressure · recombination · polymorphism
creationism
Divine origin doctrine
- intelligent designPurposeful cause over randomness
- eugenicsControlled human reproduction theory
- missing linkUndiscovered ancestral connection
fundamentalism · pseudoscience · scientific consensus · debate · atheism · materialism · secularism · reductionism · teleology · creation science
naturalism
Worldview excluding the supernatural
- empiricismKnowledge through observation
- determinismDoctrine of causal necessity
- materialismPrioritizing goods over spirit
mechanism · reductionism · positivism · essentialism · contingency · functionalism · progressivism · teleology · humanism · agnosticism
- evolutionevolution, natural selection, mutation, adaptation, speciation
- Victorianaseances, Dickens, spiritualism, Sherlock Holmes, phrenology
- EponymsAlzheimer's disease, Freudian slip, cardigan, Parkinson's disease, Machiavellian
- ismscapitalism, socialism, communism, anarchism, racism
- originsbeginning, birth, creation, source, roots
- Biology HistoryMendel, evolution, natural selection, cell theory, germ theory
Darwinismcreationism
Divine origin doctrine
intelligent design · Genesis · creation science · special creation · divine creation
Darwinismcreationism
Divine origin doctrine
teleology · vitalism · intelligent design · essentialism · mutationism
- Darwinian evolutionSpecies change through selection
- social DarwinismMisapplied natural selection to society
- Darwinian theoryEvolution via natural selection
neo-Darwinism, social Darwinism, Darwinian, Darwinist, Darwinians