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Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution developed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin — and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

Also called Darwinian theoryit originally included the broad concepts of transmutation of species or of evolution which gained general scientific acceptance after Darwin published On the Origin of Species inincluding concepts which predated Darwin's theories. Darwinism subsequently referred to the specific concepts of natural selection, the Weismann barrieror the central A Darwinian Reading of Great Expectations of molecular biology. Many of the proponents of Darwinism at that time, including Huxley, had reservations about the significance of natural selection, and Darwin himself gave credence to what was later called Lamarckism.

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The strict neo-Darwinism of German evolutionary biologist August Weismann gained few supporters in the late 19th century. During the approximate period of the s to aboutsometimes called " the eclipse of Darwinism ", scientists proposed various alternative evolutionary mechanisms which eventually proved untenable. The development of the Dwrwinian synthesis in the early 20th century, incorporating natural selection with population genetics and Mendelian geneticsrevived Darwinism in an updated form. While the term Darwinism has remained in use amongst the public when referring to modern evolutionary theory, it has increasingly been argued by science Expecttaions such as Olivia JudsonEugenie Scottand Carl Safina that it is an inappropriate term for modern evolutionary theory. He naturally had no inkling of later theoretical developments and, like Mendel himself, knew A Darwinian Reading of Great Expectations of genetic driftfor example.

In the United States, creationists often use the term "Darwinism" as a pejorative term in reference to beliefs such as scientific materialismbut in the United Kingdom the term has no negative connotations, being freely used as a shorthand for the body of theory dealing with evolution, and in particular, with evolution by natural selection.

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Huxley, upon first reading Darwin's theory inresponded, "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that! While the term Darwinism had been used previously to refer to the work of Erasmus Darwin in the late 18th century, the term as understood today was introduced when Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species was reviewed by Thomas Henry Huxley in the April issue of the Westminster Review. What if the orbit of Darwinism should be a little too circular? What if species should offer residual phenomena, here and there, not explicable by natural selection?

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Dadwinian Twenty years hence naturalists may be in a position to say whether this is, or is not, the case; but in either event they will owe the author A Darwinian Reading of Great Expectations "The Origin of Species" an immense debt of gratitude And viewed as a whole, we do not believe that, since the publication of Von Baer's "Researches on Development," thirty years ago, any work has appeared calculated to exert so large an influence, not only on the future of Biology, but in extending the domination of Science over regions of thought into which she has, as yet, hardly penetrated. Another important evolutionary theorist of the same period was the Russian geographer and prominent anarchist Peter Kropotkin who, in his book Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolutionadvocated a conception of Darwinism counter to that Darwiinian Huxley.

His conception was centred around what he saw as the widespread use of co-operation as a survival mechanism in human societies and animals. He used biological and sociological arguments in an attempt to show that the main factor in facilitating evolution is cooperation between individuals in free-associated societies and groups.

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This was in order to counteract the conception of fierce competition as the core of evolution, which provided see more rationalization for the dominant political, economic and social theories of the time; and the prevalent interpretations of Darwinism, such as those by Huxley, who is targeted as an opponent by Kropotkin. Kropotkin's conception of Darwinism could be summed up by the following quote:. In the animal world we have seen that the vast majority of species live in societies, and that they find in association the best arms for the struggle for life: understood, of course, in its wide Darwinian sense—not as a struggle for the sheer means of existence, but as a struggle against all natural conditions unfavourable to the species.

The animal A Darwinian Reading of Great Expectations, in which individual struggle has been reduced to its narrowest limits, and the practice of mutual aid has attained the greatest development, are invariably the most numerous, the most prosperous, and the most open to further progress. The mutual protection which is obtained in this case, the possibility of attaining old age and of accumulating experience, the higher intellectual development, and the further growth of sociable habits, secure the maintenance of the species, its extension, and its further progressive evolution.

The unsociable species, on the contrary, are doomed to decay. One of the more prominent approaches, summed in the phrase " survival of the fittest " by Herbert Spencer, later became emblematic of Darwinism even though Spencer's own understanding of evolution as expressed in was more similar to that of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck than to that of Darwin, and predated the publication article source Darwin's theory in What is now called " Social Darwinism " was, in its day, synonymous with "Darwinism"—the application of Darwinian principles of "struggle" to society, usually in support of anti- philanthropic political agenda.]