The natural selection theory is also referred to as the Darwinian Theory and is found in his book the Origin of Species which was published for the first time in 1859 . The Darwinian Theory has always been considered controversial due to the lack of background material to offer inheritance. Darwin makes the theory based on his personal observations of the fauna and the flora. Darwin’s ideas tend to focus on the end product and not on the process that leads to the existence of the end product. The theory was first introduced by Darwin in the 1850’s and lacks previous supporters . At the time, the natural philosophy theory was more popular although it left many questions unanswered. Darwin came up with the theory and fully developed it. Darwin had previously been focused on the fixity of species, but, in the book and article, he tries to explain the geographical locations of these species in different continents. Alexander Von Humboldt greatly influenced Darwin after his invention of the botanical arithmetic technique which was used to determine the richness of a species. At Cambridge, Darwin had undergone a significant amount of training on geographical botany. He was well aware of the many questions that arose from the natural philosophy theory. It is from his attempts to fill the gaps from the natural philosophy theory that Darwin formulated the theory of natural selection. The ideas in the book are consistent with his major works such as the origin which was his initial publication on his hypothesis. The book, 'The origin of species' was edited six times between 1859 and 1872 . At some point during his work, his conviction on his theory of natural selection seemed to waiver, and he acknowledged that his theory was not necessarily the only possible theory and that he could be wrong. His theories on evolution have since become the basis for biology . The process that Darwin took in writing his book is one which demonstrates the creativity involved in scientific discovery. Intelligence is also reflected in his deductions and inductions during his formulation of the hypothesis. Darwin’s shortcoming was to dismiss his own theories in his own book, by referring to the theory as only a theory. This aspect is in line with most scientists who tend to lack the leadership that is necessary to ensure the growth of science (Costa).
The theory of natural selection is also widely referred to as the Darwinian philosophy. In the article, Darwin embraces two theories which include the theory of creationism and the theory of evolution. Lamarck first introduced the creationism theory. The article by Darwin pays attention to the origin of life. Darwin examines the evolution of species by studying the distribution of species across continents . While some admirers of Darwin think the work as an intelligent piece of work, others have rejected the theory of natural selection since it embraces supernaturalism and is considered by most critics as a mystical theory. The artificial force that Darwin embraces in his theory is impractical since natural forces cannot operate on their own. The universe in which evolution takes place acts like a machine, and for it to start working, it has to be set off by a supernatural being outside the universe. Darwin believes that these two theories cannot coexist together, but instead only one of them is true (Darwin). Since the theory acknowledges that the creationism theory is logical, Darwin should have tried to merge the two theories together to come up with a comprehensive theory (Wallace).
Works Cited
Costa, James T. "The Darwinian Revelation: Tracing the Origin and Evolution of an Idea." Oxford Journals (2016): 886-894. Web. <http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/59/10/886.full>.
Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. Tustin: Xist Publishing, 2015. Web. <https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=XLUmCwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=Darwin%27s+book+theory+of+species&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=natural%20selection&f=false>.
Wallace, Alfred Russell. "Literature review." Australian Town and Country Journal (2014): 234a-234b. Web. <http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/bkrevCTNS-AustralianTownCntryJnl.pdf>.
