Can Darwinism Explain Sacrifice?
Charles Darwin, who is the originator of the theory of evolution, has suggested that the basic motivation of the process of evolution was that of staying alive. In Darwin’s view, when individuals of a species acquire traits that increase their chances for survival, those individuals have an advantage; due to this advantage, they survive and produce relatively more living offspring, thus eventually spreading the trait throughout their species. Evolution, therefore, would be expected to favor self-preservation, not self-sacrifice.82 Yet, Darwin’s theory of natural selection was given a shattering blow by the discovery of so many incredible examples of self-sacrifice shown by ants. It was very difficult for proponents of the theory of evolution to produce an explanation of such characteristics, some of which were found while Darwin was still alive. In fact, Darwin himself stated in his book, called The Origin of Species: Many instincts are so wonderful that their development will probably
