As an explanation of evolution, natural selection involves a number of distinct though subordinate propositions, such as the existence of heritable variations, of population pressure, of a struggle for existence and the consequent survival of the fit or better adapted. Natural selection was used to explain organic evolution by Wells (1813), Matthews (1831), Darwin (1858), and Wallace (1858). Hillaire (1833) but it was specifically rejected in favor of teleology by Aristotle (384-321 B. C), Diderot (1749), Maupertius (1756), and Geoffrey St. Natural selection was used for this purpose by Empedocles (400 B.
The survival of the fit organism, of course, implies the survival of fitness itself, and thus natural selection can serve as an alternative explanation of those facts which are generally cited as evidences of teleology.
Actually the conception of natural selection is very old, although originally it was not used to explain the origin of new species (evolution) but to account for the existence of adaptation. The history of the concept of natural selection has generally been traced back through the personal development of Charles Darwin to Thomas Malthus, whose Essay on the Principles of Population gave Darwin the clue which led him to formulate the doctrine.
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