Many of Charles Darwin’s colleagues believed that it was necessary for him to publish a complete book about his thoughts on evolution and natural selection. He had published smaller essays in the past, including an abstract about natural selection, but his peers noticed the similarities of Charles Darwin’s thoughts and those of others in the field. Charles Darwin, with the encouragement of his peers, struggled to write a large abstract pertaining to evolution and natural selection. What eventually came out of this was On the Origin of Species. Although it was a popular book that detailed ideas behind natural selection, it avoided the then controversial term “evolution”.

1. Overview of the ideas presented in the book:

In a given population, stronger and faster animals, whom are better fit to survive will be naturally selected and live on their replication of its species. Over millions of years to come, the descendants of that species will continue to develop and grow stronger and will continue to adapt to its environment over time.

2. The term “Natural Selection” as defined by Charles Darwin:

Different animals within a certain species may have different traits. Animals may have different fur color, longer necks, bigger tails, shorter horn sizes, etc. Based on the conditions of their environment, if an animal is better suited to survive in that environment, it will grow to reproduce and pass on those superior genes to its descendants. For example, a giraffe has a long neck because of the benefits that come along with having it. Giraffes millions of years ago that had short necks could not reach vegetation to eat and flourish. The ones with the big necks did survive and only giraffes with long necks exist today.

3. The species as a whole:

In the same case as individual animals, entire species may be “naturally selected” to survive or perish over millions of years. Animal species that are extinct today could not adapt to their environment and their numbers grew weaker and weaker because they were not fit to be selected.

4. Evolution:

Although the term “evolution” is never used in the book, as it was a highly controversial word with lots of negative views attached to it, Charles Darwin does use many ideas that it presents to make a case. Evolution is the concept of natural selection, but looked at in the perspective of millions of years. It expresses what changes a species has gone through over the years; which needless traits of the species were phased out and which traits survived and grew stronger. Eventually, the theory of evolution proves that new species are sometimes created from others.

One hundred years after his death, Charles Darwin has been noted for his contributions to the scientific community. Eventually, Darwinism was created to identified various movements or concepts related to ideas of Darwin evolution, natural selection, and transmutation of species (theory describing the altering of one species to another). There are even ideas in Darwinism that extend beyond Darwin evolution theories and further into ideas that were never researched by him. Darwinism also sometimes has different meanings depending on which country you travel to. For example, in the United States, the term is widely used by creationists as a negative term to describe Darwin evolution. In the United Kingdom, the term has no negative connotations and is freely used to describe the Darwin evolution theory.

1. Origin of Darwinism:

Darwinism is a term that was first used in Thomas Henry Huxley’s review of Charles Darwin’s 1859 book On the Origin of Species in the Westminster Review. He gave the book a positive review and described it as “a veritable Whitworth gun in the armory of liberalism”. He praised the book for promoting scientific naturalism over theology, and he liked the usefulness of Darwin’s ideas.

2. How was the term Darwinism used in the 19th century to describe Darwin evolution?

Darwinism soon became a common term to describe any range of Darwin evolution concepts or theories. It even describes some philosophies about both biology and society. Advocates of Darwinism use the phrase “survival of the fittest” often when practicing Darwinism, even though this was a term by the philosopher Herbert Spencer, whose work predated Darwin’s work.

When society is implemented into terms of Darwinism, it is called “Social Darwinism”. This concept has to do with the “struggle” principles to society. It basically means that competition between individuals, groups, nations, and ideas is the key factor in what drives social evolution in human societies.

During his time however, Darwinism did not have a concrete meaning. Proponents and opponents of Darwin used it to their liking to state their case and beliefs, either to contradict Darwin’s writing, praise it, or attack it.

3. Uses of Darwinism today:

Promoters of creationism in the United States, people who believe that the earth and all of its inhabitants were intelligently designed, use the term Darwinism to attack ideas of Darwin evolution. Their reasoning behind using the term “Darwinism” is to negatively imply that the only person that holds the beliefs of Darwin evolution to be true are Darwin himself.

Darwinism is also used to positively describe the differences between the Darwin evolution theory and modern theories of evolution in the scientific community. Darwinism may also describe the theory of “natural selection” to compare it with modern theories such as “gene flow”.