For centuries, science accepted the biblical doctrine that God had designed living species perfectly, so their forms hadn’t changed since the Creation. Darwin collected evidence showing that species could change and new species could arise from older ones. He also showed that change was shaped by natural selection, rather than divine decree. It was a radical break with previous scientific thought.

This is clearly a major paradigm shift. Before this revelation was seriously accepted by the scientific community, by far almost every person in the country and on the planet had different beliefs from what Charles Darwin discovered.

For research, I could just look into all of Charles Darwin’s research that he used to support his new theory. He made many observations and did experiments in the Galapagos Islands. His most famous study was on the “Galapagos Finches” where he studied the varying traits among the different species of finches. These traits are due to the different environments that surrounded each of the individual types of finches. Then, the finches with the traits best fit for their environment survived best, leading to the phrase “survival of the fittest.”

To craft my argument, I would discuss the implications that this new theory had on the world, and how it is viewed by many. This theory led to many other scientific breakthroughs, and allowed for the advancement of technology continuing today. Ultimately, the paradigm shift of evolution due to natural selection changed the course of human history and changed countless viewpoints, making it one of the most profound and effective paradigm shifts in recent human history.