“All humans have beliefs, which are concepts we hold to be true, even without evidence (Being Human, 2017).” Since millions of years ago, humans already had a concept of belief, whether it was God, a tree, start, those were proclaimed as knowledge. Knowledge is “a theoretical understanding of a subject (Merriam-webster.com, 2017).” When natural selection is used as a metaphor, it is comparing “knowledge” and “genes.” Natural selection is a process in which individuals of a population’s genes would mutate and pass down advantageous genes to adapt to the environment, survival of the fittest (Bbc.co.uk, 2017). In other words, the favored genes are “selected for”, and the less adaptive genes are “selected against.” The variation, heritability, …show more content…
Natural selection is a theory of evolution that is suggested by Charles Darwin, which is now widely believed. However, before Darwin, tere were many other pre-Darwinian ideas about evolution (O'Neil, 2017). One including the theory of the “Great Chain of Being.” It stated that “ God created an infinite and continuous series of life forms… and that all organisms, including humans, were created in their present form relatively recently and that they have remained unchanged since then.” Even though, it has limited research and supporting evidence, it was widely believed during the early 19th century and before, even leading biological scientist believed in it as well, including Carolus …show more content…
For example, during the Early and High Renaissance Era, it was the rebirth of classical culture and art, where previous trends were brought back into society (Wilder, 2017). If being put in terms of natural selection, it would be similar to saying that after generations, the unfavoured genes that are supposedly vanished suddenly reappear in multiple individual in a population, which this does not or rarely happen in evolution. Therefore, natural selection in this context could not be used as a metaphor. Also, these trends are not selected by the nature rather than humans, hence it is more relevant to artificial selection where humans intentionally breed plants and animals to have a desirable characteristic to