Darwinism

Darwinism, theory of the evolutionary mechanism propounded by Charles Darwin as an explanation of organic change. It denotes Darwin’s specific view that evolution is driven mainly by natural selection. Beginning in 1837, Darwin proceeded to work on the now well-understood concept that evolution is essentially brought about by the interplay of three principles: (1) variation—a liberalizing factor, which Darwin did not attempt to explain, present in all forms of life; (2) heredity—the conservative force that...