Darwinism (book)

Darwinism: An Exposition of the Theory of Natural Selection with Some of Its Applications is an 1889 book on biological evolution by Alfred Russel Wallace, the co-discoverer of evolution by natural selection together with Charles Darwin. This was a book Wallace wrote as a defensive response to the scientific critics of natural selection. Of all Wallace's books, it is cited by scholarly publications the most.

In the preface to Darwinism, Wallace had used the term pure-Darwinism which proposed a "greater efficacy" for natural selection. The book is notable for defending August Weismann's theory of heredity and rejecting the inheritance of acquired characteristics and the concept of sexual selection which Darwin gave credence to. George Romanes dubbed this view as "Wallaceism", noting that in contrast to Darwin, this position was advocating a "pure theory of natural selection to the exclusion of any supplementary theory." The book is seen as laying the foundation for the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution.