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doctrine of descent

British  

noun

  1. the theory that animals and plants arose by descent from previously existing organisms; theory of evolution

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

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Pre-Darwinian philosophers had also tried to establish the doctrine of descent with modification; but they all committed the blunder of clumping the two cycles of causation into one.

From The Will to Believe : and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by James, William

But it is the doctrine of descent based upon natural selection that is Darwinism itself.

From Naturalism And Religion by Otto, Rudolf

The immense importance of this conclusion becomes plain, and the conclusion itself seems obvious, when seen in the light of the doctrine of descent.

From Thomas Henry Huxley; A Sketch Of His Life And Work by Mitchell, P. Chalmers (Peter Chalmers)

To establish convincingly the doctrine of descent with modification as a theory of species, it was necessary for him to develop the theory of adaptation which we now know as natural selection.

From Popular Science Monthly Oct, Nov, Dec, 1915 — Volume 86 by Anonymous

It was he who discovered the vestigial teeth of the baleen whale and those of embryo birds, and the bearing of this on the doctrine of descent must have been obvious to him.

From Lamarck, the Founder of Evolution His Life and Work by Packard, A. S. (Alpheus Spring)

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