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Natural Selection In Charles Darwin's Origin Of Species

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In Origin of Species, Darwin emphasizes the importance of ordinary selection – the battle for life based on environmental hardships governed by nature– on the development of species. He then establishes the idea of sexual selection – the struggle for the organism to reproduce generally governed by the female – which generally produces traits that ordinary selection would not develop. After 12 years he expands on the subject of sexual selection in Descent of Man, Darwin elaborates on the energy both the male and female exert on reproduction. This energy establishes that while ordinary selection enforces animals to change and adapt to the physical environment around them, sexual selection focuses on the environment of reproduction allowing …show more content…

According to Darwin, natural selection is the, “preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variations” (O 891-892) which allows the best traits to be passed on to further generations and the weakest traits to be weeded out. As natural selection is the encompassing selection of traits, Darwin begins to focus strictly on ordinary selection which is just the natural environment forcing an organism to adapt and change to best fit their natural environment. “leaf-eating insects green, and bark-feeders mottled-grey” are just a few aspects on how organisms fit to the environment they are presented with to survive and reproduce. Otherwise, without the adaptations to their changing environment, species would go extinct. Darwin emphasizes that through nature’s guiding hand, “the vigorous, the healthy, and the happy survive and multiply” (O Chapter 3). These two steps “survive and multiply” is the encapsulating idea to Darwin’s entire claim towards the idea of natural selection. The organism must first survive the fierce force of nature to reproduce and pass on its traits to the next generation which will be better equipped with the ability to

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