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
