Who has read "Origin of Species" By Charles Darwin?

Question

The full title of the book is

"On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life"

I was just wondering what the word "Race" is in reference to in the book - did he mean Human Race or the different races of todays world or OTHER. Please only if you read it, not guessing.

Answer 1

kteaff's answer is a Baldfaced Lie (capital B, capital L). Only someone who has never come *close* to a copy of Origin of Species, much less read it, would make statements like that (or give it a thumb's up).

See: http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA005_2.html

The word "race" in the title is the common word of Darwin's time when referring to varieties within a species ... any species, not just humans. (This is what we might call "breeds" when referring to domestically bred plants and animals).

The word "race" was the word used before the more rigorous word "species" came into use. It is closer to the meaning we have when we still say "the human race" ... just a group of like organisms. By Darwin's time, biologists had a more rigorous notion of "species" (organisms that can breed together), but they still needed a word to describe like organisms below the species level.

The word "race" fell into disuse (after Darwin's time) ... the terms "population", "subpopulation", "cline", "variety", "breed" or sometimes "subspecies" being preferred instead ... and "race" became isolated to humans only. Nowadays, even with humans, the word "race" is seldom used by biologists as it has little biological meaning ... all humans are the same species (as Darwin believed), and although there are genetic differences between different groups, these are associated with geographical ancestry. Biologists generally prefer the word "population" or "cline" now.

For more on Darwinism and race, see:
http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CA/CA005.html

Answer 2

Race is definitely in teh book, but not human races.

Here's the full title of Darwin's first edition (1859):
"On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray. 1st edition, 1st issue"

The term 'race' is used in the context of groups of interbreeding organisms with similar traits and similar selective pressures. The word 'race' in Origin of the Species is almost always preceded by the word 'domesticated' and the discussions are largely on farm animals and plants, with implications for natural selection.

Darwin discusses human races in the 'Descent of Man'

Answer 3

It refers to varieties, not to human races. All "race" means is that some naturally occuring variations survive in greater numbers. Humans are hardly mentioned in Darwin's Origin of Species at all.

Answer 4

I actually think I would remember that? It may have been a part of required reading for Biology, however, it may be that I read more text books that year on cellular structure, dissected a starfish, a frog and took scrapings from the inside of my mouth, put it in a mild salt solution, examined a dead rabbit that the biology professor brought in to the lab. I found chemistry more interesting. I made enough mustard gas in a tiny test tube to evacuate the lab once.

Answer 5

Populations or species is what Darwin meant.

Answer 6

I'm in the process of reading it so I cannot help you at the moment.

Answer 7

Darwin was referring to the races of mankind -- caucasian, *******, and mongoloid, to use the terms of his day. He believed that blacks were an intermediate stage of human development. He explored this thesis more fully in his later book, "The Descent of Man", where he postulated that apes had evolved into man, and that black men were evidence of that evolution.

Answer 8

i didnt read it so i wont guess.