The Origin of Species

Key Facts

full title ·  On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection of the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (On dropped from the beginning of title following the first edition printing)

author · Charles Darwin

type of work · Nonfiction, scientific treatise

genre · Natural philosophy; science; what would later become evolutionary biology

method of inquiry · Inductive reasoning based on empirical evidence

language · English

time and place written ·  1844, Kent, England

date of first publication ·  1859

publisher · John Murray, London

narrator · Charles Darwin

point of view · First person

tone · Reasoned, respectful, energetic, accessible

major scientific concepts · Natural selection; the struggle for existence; variation and adaptation; heredity; species formation

scientific arguments · Hereditary variation is the cause of species development; the struggle for existence defines advantageous variation; natural selection is the mechanism for evolution; geographical isolation influences the divergence of species

themes · Nature as the agent of descent; the central importance of the scientific method; the progress toward perfect adaptation; the implicit idea that humans are part of the evolutionary process