19th Century
Charles Darwin
1809–1882
“There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental faculties.”
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist whose long voyage on the Beagle and years of collection prepared the argument of . Organisms vary. Some variations are heritable. More are born than can survive. Those with advantageous traits leave more offspring. Over deep time, selection produces new species. In he extends the account to human beings. Fixed natural kinds give way to populations of variable individuals. Later biology, philosophy of mind, and every claim about human uniqueness had to answer this picture of descent with modification.
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