And Then We Delve into Darwin...

When reading over Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," my mind immediately brought back memories of Biology class, all the way from Sophomore year of high school. Darwin is indeed a great scientific thinker and a valuable contributor to the scientific theory. But, CORE is a class based on the Human Condition and here we must think of Darwin on a philosophic level. Darwin created the idea of natural selection, or the power of the individual. He asserts that one beneficial genetic mutation in a species will eventually become a part of said species in the process of survival and inheritance. As he states, "From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form" (163).

This, I believe, can be applied to the thought process as well. Humans come up with new ideas all the time. When these ideas are announced, or show themselves to the rest of the population, they can take hold and become a part of that population. A simple example would be considering apes and the use of tools. One very intelligent ape decided to use a "tool" to help complete a task. Soon, the rest of the ape population saw how beneficial this tool was and started using it. And so the idea progressed and eventually became a part of the species. Today, we use tools all the time. For instance this computer is helping me organize my thoughts. We don't even think about where these original ideas came from, such as the benefits of tools, but Darwin helps us realize how the influence spreads. Like an inheritance of the mind, of ideas.

We can connect back the Socrates as well, his thinking, his thoughts on life and the universe have traveled through the ages to modern times. We are reading his work now in 2007, still trying to contemplate his ideas. Socrates stands for the natural urge to question life by humans. Think about it. We, as humans, have something to say about everything, we all have opinions. Could it be that Socrates, among other people, helped us realize the power and curiosity of a simple question? I would not know, but maybe with Darwin we can wonder.