Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist whose voyage on HMS Beagle and decades of later research at Down House in Kent led to On the Origin of Species. He proposed natural selection as a mechanism by which species change over time and descend from common ancestors. The theory transformed biology and reshaped philosophical debates about design, human nature, the emotions and the origins of morality.

Key ideas

• Species are not fixed but descend with modification from common ancestors.
• Natural selection acts on heritable variation that affects survival and reproduction.
• Apparent design in organisms can be explained without a designer.
• Human mental and moral capacities have evolutionary roots continuous with other animals.

Major works

• On the Origin of Species (1859)
• The Descent of Man (1871)
• The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872)

In the conversation

• Debate Calling al-Jahiz a forerunner of Darwin does him no favours Layla Haddad · 5 replies
• Debate Hume’s Dialogues had answered the watchmaker before Paley set it ticking Alistair Gow · 6 replies