On Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection

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Hackett Publishing, 1. jaan 1996 - 356 pages

Designed for use in a broad range of courses in the humanities, Darwin's theory is laid out in a concise general Introduction and followed up in short chapter introductions. Each chapter concludes with an excerpt from Darwin's correspondence, commenting on the work in question, and its significance, impact, and reception. Two short appendixes are included--the first three chapters from Malthus, On Population, which gave Darwin the idea for natural selection and the paper by Wallace that motivated Darwin to abandon the Big Species Book and write Origin of Species.

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Contents

Acknowledgments
ix
Journal of Researches
xviii
Darwins Notebooks
46
Marginalia
64
220
72
On Selection Under Domestication
89
Variation of Organic Beings in
99
Darwins View of the Importance of the 1844
116
Abstract of Darwins Theory Sent to Asa Gray
152
Variation of Plants and Animals Under
216
The Descent of Man second edition 1874
240
Flowers and Adaptation
278
Autobiography
307
Selections from Malthuss An Essay on
323
On the Tendency
335
Darwins Writings and General Bibliography
346

The Big Species Book
127

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About the author (1996)

Charles Robert Darwin, born in 1809, was an English naturalist who founded the theory of Darwinism, the belief in evolution as determined by natural selection. Although Darwin studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and then studied at Cambridge University to become a minister, he had been interested in natural history all his life. His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a noted English poet, physician, and botanist who was interested in evolutionary development. Darwin's works have had an incalculable effect on all aspects of the modern thought. Darwin's most famous and influential work, On the Origin of Species, provoked immediate controversy. Darwin's other books include Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Charles Darwin died in 1882.

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