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Origin of Species
Origin of Species describes how various species have evolved and adapted to their surrounding environment. An example Darwin gives, is the way the woodpeckers beak enables them to break through wood to obtain food. Natural selection is a key point in Origin of Species. Showcasing, how it's not always the fittest to survive but species have adapted to their ecosystem. He also introduces artificial selection, a great example that is explained in the link below is dogs.
https://youtu.be/UVx4Z3W6U-Y -
Descent of Man
Descent of man takes the theories in Origin of Species and narrows them down to man kind. Darwin then classifies man by race putting caucasian at the top and African skin tone at the bottom closer to that of the gorilla, better explained in the link below. Darwin then describes theories on mans morals. (1) "The moral sense, for Darwin, was derived by biological descent from animal instinct, and particularly from the social instincts developed by natural selection" https://youtu.be/aVdKqG1xpA8 -
Expression of Emotion
Darwin had three main principles to Emotion. Emotion is associated with the nervous system, intentional action, and come in pairs and/or opposites. He brought to the table that gestures are cultural specific, but facial expressions are universal. Darwin also studied emotion in various animals. Pointing out how animals us their voices to express much of their emotions. (2) "Cattle and horses suffer great pain in silence especially when associated with terror, they utter fearful sounds." -
Insectivorous Plants
One of my favorite species of plant, the most common being the Venus flytrap. Darwin studied the Sun-dew, he compared it to that of a spiderweb. Trapping insects with its sticky tentacle like leaves. Darwin conducted various studies on the insectivorous plants to find out how and why they consumed meat. Explained in the video below, insectivorous plants mainly live in bogs or areas where nutrients in the soil are washed away. Leading them to adapt by catching prey. https://youtu.be/PxQj0xjObVE -
Summary
Charles Darwin built the foundation for modern evolution theory by his theories of natural selection. Not only impacting science world but also in politics. Where he used natural selection to categorize individuals as unfit. Decent of man help build a history of evolution and the understanding of adaptation in man kind. Leading to the ways emotion works similar in man and animals. Darwin wrote about his studies all over the world. To this day help build the foundation of basic biology. -
References
Sloan, Phillip, "Darwin: From Origin of Species to Descent of Man", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2019/entries/origin-descent/. Ekman, Paul. “Darwin's contributions to our understanding of emotional expressions.” Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences vol. 364,1535 (2009): 3449-51. doi:10.1098/rstb.2009.0189 -
References Continued
Darwin, Charles. THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. Mar. 1998, www.gutenberg.org/files/1227/1227-h/1227-h.htm. Darwin, Charles. “Insectivorous Plants.” Gutenberg, May 2004, www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/5765/pg5765.txt.
