Everything in nature is the result of fixed laws.
Charles DarwinRead
So in regard to mental qualities, their transmission is manifest in our dogs, horses and other domestic animals. Besides special tastes and habits, general intelligence, courage, bad and good tempers. etc., are certainly transmitted.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Darwin suggests that mental traits and characteristics can be inherited in domestic animals, similar to physical traits.
In this quote, Charles Darwin highlights the concept of hereditary transmission of mental qualities in domestic animals such as dogs and horses. He emphasizes that not only specific tastes and habits but also broader traits like intelligence, courage, and temperament can be passed down through generations, illustrating the complexity of genetic inheritance beyond mere physical attributes.
Themes
InheritanceMental QualitiesDomestic AnimalsIntelligenceDarwin
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about animal breeding, one might reference this quote to emphasize the importance of selecting for mental characteristics.
More from Charles Darwin
All quotes →The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts.
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I am quite conscious that my speculations run beyond the bounds of true science....It is a mere rag of an hypothesis with as many flaw[s] & holes as sound parts.
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We cannot fathom the marvelous complexity of an organic being; but on the hypothesis here advanced this complexity is much increased. Each living creature must be looked at as a microcosm--a little universe, formed of a host of self-propagating organisms, inconceivably minute and as numerous as the stars in heaven.
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I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term of Natural Selection.
Charles DarwinRead
we are always slow in admitting any great change of which we do not see the intermediate steps
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