Darwin and the Origin of Species

Who was Darwin?
Charles Darwin was an english naturalist who was the first to have the theory of evolution. He was born in Shropshire England on Feburary 12, 1809. In his childhood, he he was already developing a taste for natural selection.

How did he arrive on his theory?
Darwin arrived on his theory during his trip on the HMS Beagle. On this trip, Darwin noticed how on each island there was the same type of bird with a different type of beak. By noticing this, he asked was it nature that changed the birds. He noticed that if the birds had a certain type of food on the island the birds beaks that were too big couldn't eat the food and soon died out. Out of this observation, he came upon his theory that we all evolved from earlier species.

What were some of the issues he faced?
Some issues Darwin faced were mostly related to stress and religion. His wife being a devoted Catholic believed that God created man and there is no evolution. He was chastised by the people of his town because they believed that with his theory he no longer was believing that God even existed! Out of all the stress he had, he was hallucinating and having extremely bad dreams of his deceased daughter.

What was his anguish?
Darwin's anguish was many. One being that his family and friends did not like him because of their religion. His theory was a total opposite of God and many people did not appreciate that. After his daughter died, he would have so much stress that he would have visions of her leading him around. He would have so many issues, he even go sick at one point.

Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture is a term used about the hereditary and the environmental aspects of people. It is a term where people ask if the trait they have is nature or nurture that makes them that way. The first person who used this term was Francis Galton. Galton was a close cousin of Charles Darwin and was highly influenced by Darwin's book. After reading the book, Galton came up with the theory of nature versus nurture.

 The topics discussed in this debate are many. They can vary from morals to personality and everything in between. The overall belief is that social behaviors are a nurture because your personality can change with the people you are surrounded by. And for nurture they debate homosexuality. This is debated because they do not know if someone is born gay or born straight. I personally agree in the Nature vs. Nurture debate because many personal traits people are born with and many are gained from the environment they live in.