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- Submitted by: paula2011
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- Category: Science
- Date Submitted: 10/26/2012 03:00 PM
- Pages: 8
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Natural Selection is the source of Humanity
Evolutionary psychologists look at aspects of human behaviour and cognitive abilities and seek to establish how these characteristic traits have been passed down in an evolutionary sense. Using a multi-method approach, they present scientific facts to support their claims that all life forms that exist today are the result of ‘selective’ forces which promote subtle changes to the original structure of DNA over extremely long periods of time. The focus of this essay will attempt to explain what ‘selective forces’ are and how the natural selection theory can explain how certain behavioural traits are inherited.
Charles Darwin, (1809-1882) originally wrote about the origin of species in an attempt to explain that every living thing had evolved from something else. He used his discovery of the variance within the finch species to support his theory (Clegg, 2007). His claims caused a lot of controversy (especially from those with religious beliefs), as it contracted the notion that all species were fixed at creation. A lot of criticisms of his theory were due to lack of understanding in the translation of what he actually meant. It has therefore taken the development in other disciplines (such as biology) with empirical evidence to prove what Darwin originally suggested many years ago is indeed true. Traceable genetic evidence has proven that we inherit our original set of genes from our parents and the reproduction process that all living organisms must go through, replicates billions of copies of the original gene pool until it becomes a fully developed individual (Toates, 2007).
On the flip side to ‘not getting it’, many people did understand what Darwin was trying to say. One of these is the evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins and in 1976 he publicised a book called the ‘selfish gene’ theory (Clegg, 2007). He claimed that people act as ‘vehicles’ to contain the genes, and these are passed on when the...
Evolutionary psychologists look at aspects of human behaviour and cognitive abilities and seek to establish how these characteristic traits have been passed down in an evolutionary sense. Using a multi-method approach, they present scientific facts to support their claims that all life forms that exist today are the result of ‘selective’ forces which promote subtle changes to the original structure of DNA over extremely long periods of time. The focus of this essay will attempt to explain what ‘selective forces’ are and how the natural selection theory can explain how certain behavioural traits are inherited.
Charles Darwin, (1809-1882) originally wrote about the origin of species in an attempt to explain that every living thing had evolved from something else. He used his discovery of the variance within the finch species to support his theory (Clegg, 2007). His claims caused a lot of controversy (especially from those with religious beliefs), as it contracted the notion that all species were fixed at creation. A lot of criticisms of his theory were due to lack of understanding in the translation of what he actually meant. It has therefore taken the development in other disciplines (such as biology) with empirical evidence to prove what Darwin originally suggested many years ago is indeed true. Traceable genetic evidence has proven that we inherit our original set of genes from our parents and the reproduction process that all living organisms must go through, replicates billions of copies of the original gene pool until it becomes a fully developed individual (Toates, 2007).
On the flip side to ‘not getting it’, many people did understand what Darwin was trying to say. One of these is the evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins and in 1976 he publicised a book called the ‘selfish gene’ theory (Clegg, 2007). He claimed that people act as ‘vehicles’ to contain the genes, and these are passed on when the...