Quote:
Originally Posted by Carl in Tampa
English philosopher and biologist Herbert Spencer is credited with originating the phrase in his book Principles of Biology (1864) after reading Darwin's On the Origin of Species.
Alfred Russell Wallace, an associate of Darwin, suggested to Darwin that the phrase well described Darwin's term Natural Selection. Darwin agreed, and included the term in his fourth edition of On the Origin of Species.
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Spot on. And Darwin was happy to acknowledge that Spencer's "survival of the fittest" was a better description than his own "natural selection", rather than just using the term as if he had come up with it.