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Overview Of Hunger Games: The Cultural Dimensions Of Darwinism

663 Words3 Pages

Rex Evans
Frontier Adventures and Hunger Games: The Cultural Dimensions of Darwinism
June 26, 2015
Dr. Patrick B. Sharp

In certain sections of the Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, Charles Darwin shows the physiological progress of humans over time in their use of technology because of Natural Selection, and how he believes this was beneficial to man. Published on February 24, 1871 the Descent of Man was the follow-up to On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, which is widely considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. In chapter two, Darwin explores man’s development and evolution:
I can see no reason why it should not have been advantageous... to have become more and more …show more content…

Therefore, the bipedal man could better protect himself and would “have survived in larger numbers." In the second sentence of this passage, Darwin uses the word “thus” to show that as a result of man becoming bipedal, he would, as Darwin said, have “succeeded the best..." Darwin uses the last sentence to emphasize how natural selection took over to make man “more and more erect or bipedal.” To Darwin, this is definitely a positive development because this better-adapted, and technically proficient man would “rear the greatest number of offspring…” and “increase in number…” (Darwin, 128). Through his reasoning for man becoming bipedal, Charles Darwin intertwined technological competence and progress in a way that showed how he believed evolution improved and bettered …show more content…

Because these are primitive instincts, Darwin is showing that evolution is making man more sophisticated, and thus able to “survive in greater numbers” (Darwin, 48). The word “gradually” is used to show that it was a slow process over time. Darwin is trying to stress not only that evolution takes time to occur, but also that it benefits man and causes progress. If the jaws and teeth are not as big, the skull can accommodate a larger brain (Darwin, 54), and because having a larger brain in proportion to your body is “closely connected with his higher mental powers” (Darwin, 54), having smaller teeth and jaws with a more complex brain would be of an advantage to man’s progenitors, Darwin reasons. According to Darwin, “These...inventions...are the direct results of the development of his powers of observation, memory, curiosity, imagination, and reason.” (Darwin, 49) Therefore, “higher mental powers” would allow man to advance technology and thus “survive in greater numbers” (Darwin, 48). Essentially, in the Descent of Man’s second chapter Charles Darwin shows how he believes a more sophisticated man, competent with technology, is better able to expand the species, which, to him, is

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