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Natural Selection (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

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Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace are the two co-discoverers of natural selection (Darwin & Wallace 1858), though, between the two, Darwin is the principal theorist of the notion whose most famous work on the topic is On the Origin of Species (Darwin 1859). For Darwin, natural selection is a drawn-out, complex process involving multiple interconnected causes. Natural selection requires variation in a population of organisms. For the process to work, at least some of that variation must be heritable and passed on to organisms’ descendants in some way. That variation is acted upon by the struggle for existence, a process that in effect “selects” variations conducive to the survival and reproduction of their bearers. Much like breeders choose which of their animals will reproduce and thereby create the various breeds of domesticated dogs, pigeons, and cattle, nature effectively “selects” which animals will breed and creates evolutionary change just as breeders do. Such “selection” by natu

--> Natural Selection (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Menu Browse Table of Contents What's New Random Entry Chronological Archives About Editorial Information About the SEP Editorial Board How to Cite the SEP Special Characters Advanced Tools Contact Support SEP Support the SEP PDFs for SEP Friends Make a Donation SEPIA for Libraries Entry Navigation Entry Contents Bibliography Academic Tools Friends PDF Preview Author and Citation Info Back to Top Natural Selection First published Wed Sep 25, 2019; substantive revision Mon Mar 4, 2024 Charles Darwin a

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