The Origin of Species · Chapter
VI: Difficulties of the Theory explained
Darwin addresses major objections to his theory, including the absence of transitional varieties, the formation of complex organs like the eye, and the role of utility versus beauty.
What happens
Darwin addresses major objections to his theory, including the absence of transitional varieties, the formation of complex organs like the eye, and the role of utility versus beauty. He argues that natural selection, extinction, and the imperfection of the geological record explain the lack of intermediate forms, and he defends the utilitarian doctrine against claims that structures are created for beauty alone.
Themes in this chapter
Adaptation and the Utilitarian Doctrine
Darwin defends the view that every detail of structure is or was useful to its possessor, countering objections that beauty or variety alone drive form.
Imperfection of the Geological Record
Darwin argues that the rarity of transitional forms is due to the incomplete and episodic nature of fossil preservation.
Extinction and the Succession of Forms
Natural selection and extinction go hand in hand, with new forms replacing and exterminating parent forms and transitional varieties.
Characters to notice
- Charles Darwin
Author and narrator, presenting and defending his theory against difficulties.
- Cuvier
Mentioned for his emphasis on the conditions of existence, which Darwin incorporates into natural selection.
Key passages
“Natural selection can produce nothing in one species for the exclusive good or injury of another; though it may well produce parts, organs, and excretions highly useful or even indispensable, or highly injurious to another species, but in all cases at the same time useful to the possessor.”
Natural selection never creates features solely to benefit or harm another species; any structure that helps or hurts another must also benefit the organism that possesses it.
Darwin clarifies that natural selection operates for the good of the individual, not for interspecies altruism or malice.
“If beautiful objects had been created solely for man’s gratification, it ought to be shown that before man appeared there was less beauty on the face of the earth than since he came on the stage.”
If beauty were made for humans, we would need evidence that the world was less beautiful before humans existed, which is not the case.
Darwin challenges the anthropocentric view that natural beauty is designed for human enjoyment.
“Thus extinction and natural selection go hand in hand.”
The process of natural selection inevitably leads to the extinction of less adapted forms.
Darwin links the disappearance of transitional varieties directly to the action of natural selection.