In one of his most famous essays, Charles Darwin firmly
establishes the concept of evolution in the annals of scientific
theory. He describes this process in three fundamental parts:
Variation of characteristics within a species, now known to be a
result of random genetic mutation; Heredity of characteristics
from parent to offspring; and Natural Selection of those
characteristics that best adapt a species to its environment.
This last aspect of evolution Darwin describes as the,
“preservation of favorable variations and the rejection of
injurious variations,” by limiting factors in the environment
(Jacobus 438). One can expand this view of evolution to explain
other phenomenon, particularly human culture. Within the
framework of human evolution, many scholars have considered
little beyond opposable thumbs, upright stance, and increased
brain capacity. However, as a result of nature’s extraordinary
gift of intellectual adaptation, one will note how many traits
of human culture follow a very similar pattern of