The theoretical strenghts of Charles Darwin’s argument in the Origin of Species

Abstract

The theoretical strenghts of Charles Darwin’s argument in the Origin of Species In the last 160 years, evolutionary biology has witnessed a considerable expansion in its theoretical structure and the wealth of empirical evidence to its support. In this paper I analyse the evidence presented in The origin of species (1859), with the aim of arguing for some specific theses in the philosophy of science, namely: (1) that the employment of a diverse array of methods, as well as of (2) a diverse array of evidence provides the theory with scientific robustness; (3) that explanation and prediction are both important for the success of the theory; (4) that laws are not necessary to confer evolutionary biology the status of science; (5) that crucial experiments are not possible in this domain.

Keywords

• darwin
• origin of species
• biology