Reading Darwin between the lines: a computer-assisted analysis of the concept of evolution in the Origin of species

While Darwin’s first major work, On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, is generally considered as the birth document of the theory of evolution, studies on and around this book often overlook the fact that the word evolution itself is rarely used by the author and thus complicates any attempt to properly analyze the concept. This specific issue will be addressed via a computer-assisted analysis of the concept of evolution in the Origin of Species: by means of automatic classification, categorization, and annotation strategies used in text mining, a new and automated approach for “reading Darwin between the lines” is here proposed, aiming to give a full account of the said concept regardless of any proper designation.