Darwin's theory.?

Question

did he ever actually say 'humans evolved from monkeys' or is that some thing misunderstood.
i need sources please.

Answer 1

Charles Darwin did not think that humans evolved from monkeys. Rather, he believed, based on many years of research in the fields of biology and comparative anatomy that anatomically similar species such as humans, apes, and monkeys probably evolved, over a period of many thousands of years, from a common, ape-like ancestor, now extinct.

His exact words:
"But a naturalist would undoubtedly have ranked as an ape or a monkey, an ancient form which possessed many characters common to the Catarrhine and Platyrrhine monkeys, other characters in an intermediate condition, and some few, perhaps, distinct from those now found in either group. And as man from a genealogical point of view belongs to the Catarrhine or Old World stock, we must conclude, however much the conclusion may revolt our pride, that our early progenitors would have been properly thus designated" (Charles Darwin, Descent of Man p181).

"The Simiadae then branched off into two great stems, the New World and Old World monkeys; and from the latter, at a remote period, Man, the wonder and glory of the Universe, proceeded" (Darwin, Descent of Man. p181).

Darwin also wrote:

"There can ... hardly be a doubt that man is an off-shoot from the Old World Simian stem, and that under a genealogical point of view, he must be classed with the Catarrhine division" (Darwin, Descent of Man. p169).

Darwin online
http://darwin-online.org.uk/

Of course, we've added to our knowledge a great deal since his day.

If anyone asks me: ‘Do I believe humans evolved from monkeys?’ I reply: ‘No, it was apes, a completely different family of species from those of monkeys’.

Want to know more?
http://www.becominghuman.org/
http://www.thetech.org/genetics/ask.php?id=150
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/human/human_evolution/
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/biology/humanevolution/

Happy New Year all.

Answer 2

Charles Darwin believed that similar structures in different animals strongly suggested a common evolutionary ancestor for them.

‘What can be more curious’, he said, ‘than that the hand of a man, formed for grasping, that of a mole for digging, the leg of the horse, the paddle of the porpoise, and the wing of the bat, should all be constructed on the same pattern, and should include similar bones, in the same relative positions?’1

Darwin concluded that this similarity was, as he quoted Professor Flower, ‘powerfully suggestive of true relationship, of inheritance from a common ancestor’.2

This idea that a fundamental similarity in structures is due to common descent is called homology. But this still-common idea is not in the slightest a proof of evolution. It is simply an assumption by those who reject creation.

Darwin revealed this was his position when he said some believe ‘that it has pleased the Creator to construct all the animals and plants in each great class on a uniform plan’. He finished that sentence by saying, ‘but this is not a scientific explanation.’3 He was therefore ruling out the possibility of creation based on a common plan by implying it was not scientific, so he wouldn’t believe it whether it was true or not.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v14/i2/evolution.asp

The idea that man is descended from an ape like creature is just that - an idea. It is *not* supported by the evidence.
All hominid fossils are either clearly human or clearly ape.

Check out some of the stuff that evolutionists don't like to talk about:
http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/3048/

Answer 3

No, Darwin never said that. That is another of the misconceptions about Darwin and evolution.

Misconceptions about Evolution
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-misconceptions.html

Understanding Evolution
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/misconceptions_faq.php

Answer 4

I don't believe so, although that was what was interpreted from his early work "on the origin of species by means of natural selection". What he said was that we share a common ancestor.

Answer 5

Nope he noted a similar ancester was probable due to our similarities, his theories were based on observations from the Gallapagos islands and in fact on the finches found there which had undergone divergent evolution to the point that different islands had their own unique species (according to his observations although he did get slightly confused with the geographical ranges using those of mocking birds!).

He really only came up with survival of the fittest an idea which itself has evolved spectaularly over the last few years including my own favorite analogy the red queen hypothesis!

Answer 6

Don't know if this helps but we have, apparently 98 % the same DNA as Chimps.

Answer 7

IDK, but wouldn't saying that be an insult to the monkies?

Answer 8

That's a common misconception. Darwin never suggested that humans evolved from monkeys, and neither do any modern day scientists. We do believe that monkeys and humans have a common ancestor, based on our genetic similarity and the fossil record. But that's not the same thing.

Think of it as if monkeys and humans are cousins, and we share the same grandfather. Yes, we're related, but to say that your cousin is your grandfather simply because he's related to you is just silly.

Answer 9

What Darwin said was that we are very similar to apes and monkeys, but to prove that we evolved from them, you have to find the missing link which no one has found yet. The missing link is an ape or a monkey that stands upright all the time.

Answer 10

sorry i dont know any sources but i know that darwins theory only stated that animals will evolve to best fit there enviorment for survival. but the theory of evolution from monkeys to man came form fossil evidence. so no darwin didnt come up with that theory.