On the Origin of Species

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1859

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction & Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-7

Chapters 8-10

Chapters 11-14

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Key Figures

Charles Darwin (The Author)

Widely considered the father of modern evolutionary biology, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) extensively developed natural selection theory, which has become foundational to biological science. On the Origin of Species, first published in 1859, systematically presents a theory of the genealogical history of species, their tendency to produce varieties, and the processes by which this unfolds. Although extremely controversial at the time (and for many decades afterwards), natural selection theory (or the theory of evolution) is now the scientifically accepted paradigm for the natural history of species.

As a young man Darwin circumnavigated the globe as the naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle, a vessel of the British Royal Navy. Many of the ideas that inspired Darwin’s natural selection theory were based on his findings and experiences on this trip. The Voyage of the Beagle, a popular account of his adventures, was published in 1839. The many places that inspired Darwin during the voyage most notably included the Galapagos Islands, Patagonia, and Tahiti.

A tragic moment in Darwin’s life occurred in 1851 when his eldest daughter, Annie, died at age 10. Darwin had a large family, including 10 children. Two other children died in infancy, one in 1858 around the time that Darwin’s unpublished writings on natural selection were first presented to a public audience, and Darwin didn’t attend this event because he was grieving for his dead son. Darwin’s religious persuasion may have been impacted by these bouts of grief as well as his investigations into the autonomous processes of the natural world. By the end of his life, he considered himself agnostic. The religious implications of Darwin’s work are a focus of the controversy about it.

Darwin’s works were published extensively during his lifetime. In addition to On the Origin of Species and The Voyage of the Beagle, he wrote The Descent of Man (1871), which applies natural selection theory to the origin of humans. (He avoided this subject in On the Origin of Species because of the public outcry it would cause, but a decade later his ideas were more widely accepted.) Other important works include The Power of Movement in Plants, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, and The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs.

He died in 1882 at age 73 after a lifetime of ill health and was buried in Westminster Abbey near Isaac Newton, acknowledging his contribution to science and signifying his legacy in British society.

Alfred Russell Wallace

Darwin’s contemporary and friend, Wallace was most notably the naturalist who independently and (to some degree) simultaneously developed natural selection theory. In 1858, his essay, “On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original Type,” prompted Darwin to quickly compose On the Origin of Species (published the following year) instead of his more extensive project, Natural Selection. Wallace sent his essay to Darwin, who was concurrently investigating the same problems. In March 1858, both Wallace’s essay and some of Darwin’s unpublished manuscripts were read together at the Linnean Society of London, effectively initiating the change in thinking that unfolded in biology.

Although Wallace and Darwin agreed on the fundamental nature of natural selection, they didn’t always see eye to eye. In Darwin’s book on human evolution, The Descent of Man, he challenges Wallace’s views on teleology. Wallace, unlike Darwin, thought a direction and purpose drove evolutionary development. Darwin, on the other hand, saw it as the random generation of possibilities based on unconscious laws. Nevertheless, Wallace deferred to Darwin and lavished him with high praise for his contributions to human understanding.

In 1904, late in life, Wallace produced Man’s Place in the Universe, a work of cosmology in which he contemplated the possibility of life on other worlds. A prolific author, he was recognized during his lifetime for much more than his contributions to natural selection. He worked extensively in the field, spending eight years in the Malay Archipelago (among other places) and wrote popular accounts of these travels. The Malay Archipelago, published in 1869, was very successful. In addition, he inquired into the possibility of making Mars habitable, produced proof of Earth’s curvature, and advocated spiritualism, a philosophical view of marked contrast with Darwin’s materialist account of natural processes. He died in 1913 at age 90.

Sir Charles Lyell

A Scottish geologist, Lyell was primarily known for Principles of Geology (1830-1833), a book in three volumes that had a lasting influence on Darwin and other scientists. In it, Lyell argued that Earth is extremely ancient, vastly older than the 6,000 years that many Christians proposed at the time. In addition, he argued that Earth was shaped by geological processes inherent in its physical systems and that these processes were continuous. This view (uniformitarianism) opposed “catastrophism,” which holds that major catastrophes, like the floods recorded in the Old Testament (and elsewhere), shaped Earth’s structure but that its geological structure was subsequently stable. Lyell’s opposing theory made his book controversial, a legacy it shares with On the Origin of Species, largely for the same social reasons.

Darwin read the first volume of Principles of Geology during his voyage as a naturalist on the Beagle and was deeply impressed with Lyell’s findings. The second volume, which Darwin received midway through his trip, argued for independent creation of species, a view that Darwin eventually rejected but supported at the time. Lyell’s “uniformitarian” belief in the slow, continuous processes that continue to shape Earth’s geology influenced Darwin’s understanding of the scope and systematic nature of natural selection. In addition, Lyell’s book is noteworthy for its early usage of the term “evolution.”

Although he had strong religious qualms with Darwin’s natural selection theory, especially because it precludes the possibility of divinely commanded creation, Lyell and Darwin were friends. Lyell assisted both Darwin and Wallace in publishing their early work on natural selection despite his personal objections to the theory. His views hesitatingly evolved over time. He died in 1875 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.