Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Darwin

"If species be only well-marked and permanent varieties, we can at once see why their crossed offspring should follow the same complex laws in their degrees and kinds of resemblance to their parents, -- in being absorbed into each other by successive crosses, and in other such points, -- as do the crossed offspring of acknowledged varieties. On the other hand, these would be strange facts if species have been independently created, and varieties have been produced by secondary laws." (Darwin 73)

I love Darwin's point in this paragraph. Through his "Origin of Species," Darwin speaks about the evolution of our planet, but in this paragraph discusses the influence of generation by parent to offspring. Although we are a very diverse species, offspring resemble their parents through influence in the family life, "absorbed" into the beliefs and customs that their parents have adapted to. Because we have not been "independently created" and are direct results of our parents, we take in the "secondary laws" as they are passed down through our families and then can adjust them to our beliefs, a system of evolution.

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