Question 16
(a) What do you mean by Natural Selection? (b) What are the demerits of Darwin’s theory?
Answer
(a) Natural selection is a process by which certain individuals within a species are better adapted to their environment and have a higher chance of survival and reproduction, leading to the gradual evolution of the species over time.
(b) Some of the demerits of Darwin’s theory include:
- Lack of understanding of the mechanisms of inheritance – Darwin did not know about genetics and how traits are inherited, so he couldn’t explain how variation arises in the first place.
- Incomplete fossil record – Darwin’s theory relied heavily on the fossil record to support the idea of evolution, but the fossil record was incomplete at the time and many important transitional forms were missing.
- Limited knowledge of geology – Darwin did not have a full understanding of geological processes and the age of the Earth, which made it difficult to explain the slow, gradual changes required for evolution.
- Lack of explanation for the origin of life – Darwin’s theory only explained how existing species evolve over time, but did not address the origin of life itself.