Natural Selection In Victorian England

Victorian England was a radically different era that centered on very traditional roles, teleological beliefs, fear of controversy, and scientific caution. Therefore, the emergence of Darwin’s theory of evolution was considered very radical, and more specifically the concept of natural selection.
The basic premise of natural selection is that the organisms that are more suited to thrive in their environment will be the most likely to survive over their competition, and subsequently this improves the species as a whole over years of gradual progression. Behavior can also be shaped by natural selection. However, it is important to note that natural selection is all relative and largely depends on the environment in which an organism lives. Additionally, …show more content…
Essentially up until 1859, all evolutionary theories were teleological with human beings appearing as the superior authority in the “Great Chain of Being.” In publishing the Origin of Species he blatantly opposed the conventional way of thinking about religion because he provided substantial evidence that could eliminate the possibility of an all-knowing and designing God. What this meant for the Victorians was the foreign and frightening concept that the human species as described in Genesis was, for the most part, irrelevant because there was this new concept that man were not created by a higher power and therefore lost their God given teleological importance. This greatly shook up the accepted values of traditional religion and morality because it lessened the uniqueness of men. People essentially realized that religion and science are not interconnected because Darwin provided completely scientific explanations for phenomena that had only been discussed in through creationism and religious beliefs. Really the greatest shock of this was that human were no longer as superior as they one thought because we too are simply