ABSTRACT
The idea of evolution is mainly associated with the name of Charles Darwin, that gifted and esteemed 19th-century English naturalist. The idea that life in all its diversity might have been the result of purely natural processes can be traced back to prescientific times and even to some classical thinkers of ancient Greece. The wholly material explanation as to how the evolutionary development has taken place is known today as neo-Darwinism or the synthetic theory of evolution, and has gained widespread acceptance within the scientific community. There are other more philosophical influences that have played a powerful role in shaping the neo-Darwinian belief system of our modern, materialistic culture. Richard Darwin was awakened to a dimension of evolution through his reading of an essay on population by the English economist and clergyman Thomas Malthus. Darwin became increasingly uncertain that natural selection alone could fully explain the process of evolution.
