ABSTRACT
The Selfish Gene is a work about evolutionary theory in general and sociobiology in particular. Evolutionary theory sets out to determine how natural selection—the way in which certain traits become more common in individual organisms across the generations—works on species, and to chart the course of this evolution. Sociobiology is an offshoot of evolutionary biology, the field of study founded by the great English biologist Charles Darwin. The best illustration of natural selection is the peppered moth in England. The peppered moth was originally a mix of white and black, which helped it camouflage itself against birch trees. The best illustration of natural selection is the peppered moth in England. Sociobiology applies this same principle of adaptation that changed the moths' color to the behaviors of primitive "non-complex" social animals like ants, birds, pack mammals, and early humans. The Selfish Gene was published while arguments were raging between pro-sociobiologists and anti-sociobiologists.
