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Does anyone here know if Darwin created the term "evolution".?
I mean did the word "evolution" exist in the human lexicon before he wrote his book?
If not, then why do creationists think they can determine a different definition of the word, other than how it was introduced and outlined.
Darwin's theory of evolution never pretended to know how the universe began, it only attempted to explain how human beings may have evolved, using the evidence of the day. And since, it has so far proven correct.
Why do creationists insist that it includes the Big Bang... when Darwin clearly did not even discuss such beginnings.
Great answers guys. I must do some more research on this word "evolution". I want to know when it became a common idea (whether it had proof or not)...I'm off researching.
This is what I found:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evolution/
‘Evolution’ in contemporary discussions denotes the theory of the change of organic species over time. Prior to the second half of the nineteenth century, the term was used primarily, if not exclusively, in an embryological sense, to designate the development of the individual embryo.
This is what I found:
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evolution/
‘Evolution’ in contemporary discussions denotes the theory of the change of organic species over time. Prior to the second half of the nineteenth century, the term was used primarily, if not exclusively, in an embryological sense, to designate the development of the individual embryo.
The idea of "evolution" was around and so was the word, but with a different definition.
The more commonly used term was "transformism".
16 Answers
- ?Lv 51 decade agoFavorite Answer
It did exist before his theory, he just applied it to a new concept.
The title of his book was, "On the Origin of the Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle of Life"
There is nothing there about the Big Bang theory, but he does discuss how life evolved from more primitive life through natural selection.
- dewcoonsLv 71 decade ago
Both the term and the concept of "evolution" predate the writings of Darwin. In fact, people were debating creation versus evolution as far part as the writing of Plato around 500 BC.
What Darwin added was a mechanism for how evolution could have been guided, called "survival of the fittest". Much of what Darwin wrote is no longer accepted by the current thinking about how evolution may have worked.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
No, Darwin did not invent the theory of evolution but he refined it and popularized it. Darwin made evolution a household word.
As for Creationism, Darwin believed that all species evolved from a common ancestor but he also believed that the common ancestor was created by a creator since there was nothing for it to evolve from. In that limited sense Darwin was a creationist.
Source(s): "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin - How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
- The DocLv 61 decade ago
As mentioned by others, Darwin did not invent the concept of evolution, he proposed a mechanism which actually makes sense through which it could happen. Prior to him there were theories such as Lamarck's inheritance of acquired characteristics which also posited evolution, but did not do so in a way that was in accordance with the world.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
I am not sure if Darwin was the one that coined the term, but the idea of animals evolving has been around a lot longer than Darwin has; he's the one who came up with the revolutionary concept of "natural selection".
And creationists should just be ignored.
- 1 decade ago
no Darwin did not create the word evolution. As a matter of fact he wasn't even the first person to develop a theory of evolution...Lamarck was. Although Lamarck was the first person to develop a theory...it was later proved incorrect.
Source(s): I learned it in Biology a long long time ago :] - Cyprch27Lv 41 decade ago
There were existing "theories of evolution" at the time. Darwin actually was the first to define "evolution by means of natural selection." This set his theory apart from earlier definitions of evolution. (Wow, I'm a Christian who does not subscribe to the theory of Darwinian Evolution and I knew that!)
- Pirate AM™Lv 71 decade ago
I think that the term existed before Darwin, but in any case evolution is not about "humans", but it is about all life. There is no reason to think that we are any "better" than any other organism alive today.
The big bang is cosmology and not subject to evolutionary mechanisms.
- 1 decade ago
Darwin created the concept of natural selection. Evolution came before Darwin, he just used it in his works.
