Jean Baptiste Lamarck was the most influential person when it comes to Darwin's development of this theory of Natural selection. Jean Lamarck was the first scientist to purpose that humans developed throughout time and evolved from lower species. This proposition allowed Darwin to begin the development of the theory of natural selection. And with the work of vestigial structures Darwin was able to gain evidence through previous work of Lamarck.
http://evolution.about.com/od/Pre-Darwin/ss/8-People-Who-Influenced-Charles-Darwin.htm#step2
From the bullet listen, Jean Lamarck affected the point "Individuals do not evolve. Populations do." Lamarck came up with the initial idea that noticed that humans were evolving throughout time which started as a basic form. Even though Darwin noticed some flaws in the development of Lamarck he was still able to develop more understanding of natural selection.
Darwin could not have been able to develop his theory without the help and research form Jean Lamarck because he invented the initial idea of natural selection. He realized that humans were developing throughout time in order to survive better, this helped Darwin branch out his ideas.
The attitude of the church affected Darwin and his book by trying to cover up the ideas of science. The church did not like that Darwin's theory was not based on any religion which they did not support. This got Darwin to be ignored by the church.
You've got the basics in your opening section but some corrections and clarifications are necessary:
ReplyDelete"Jean Lamarck was the first scientist to purpose that humans developed throughout time and evolved from lower species."
Neither Lamarck nor Darwin initially addressed the idea that humans evolved as this was too explosive (Darwin discussed it in his second book). They both focused on the evolution of natural non-human organisms.
Furthermore, we try to avoid the language "lower" in evolution, as this falsely seems to imply a indication of "progress" in evolution. Evolution has no goal and makes not "progress". It is simply change with no directionality.
What was Lamarck's theory called? How did it differ from Darwin's, i.e., why was Lamarck's found to be incorrect and how did Darwin's correct for those errors? Since we are talking about how Lamarck's work influenced Darwin's these are important points to address here.
"From the bullet listen, Jean Lamarck affected the point "Individuals do not evolve. Populations do."
Actually, one of the problems with Lamarck's theory is that he argued that evolution occurs through the change in the individual which is then passed onto the offspring, so the exact opposite of what Darwin proposed.
Two bullet points that apply directly to Lamarck is the one on the influence of the environment and the fact that changes must be heritable. Lamarck also seemed to recognize the importance of reproduction as he included the point that the changes that occurred in an individual were passed onto the offspring, but changes could occur without reproduction. So would he have argued that evolution doesn't require reproduction? Or would he have said that that transfer to the next generation was required?
"Jean Lamarck because he invented the initial idea of natural selection. "
No, Lamarck's theory was called the "Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics". While Darwin's theory of natural selection involves the environment "selecting" which traits are more or less beneficial through differential reproductive success, Lamarck's involved the body changing based upon the conditions of the environment. There was none of the "selection" process involved and shouldn't be equated with the concept of "natural selection".
While Lamarck was certainly important in that he produced the first mechanism of evolutionary theory, by the time Darwin because his studies in naturalism, the errors in Lamarck's work were well know. Darwin would have learned from Lamarck's errors, but I wouldn't go so far as to suggest that Lamarck was that crucial to Darwin's work, particularly since many scientists of that time were exploring the concept of evolution.
With regard to the last section, the question addresses a time before Darwin published, so the church didn't know about his work yet. But that doesn't mean that the church's stance was unknown regarding the concept of evolution vs. creation, and Darwin would have been well-aware of the implications of his work. So how might that knowledge of how the church would respond to Darwin's ideas have influenced Darwin? He delayed publishing for more than 20 years. Why? What were his concerns? How might he have been negatively affected by publishing (personally and professionally) and how did the influence of the church play a role in this?
I enjoyed reading your blog, it was awesome to see one that was not about Malthus. I think your post was very informative and interesting. I never really cared to study about Lamarck,but after reading you blog I think I'll look him up.
ReplyDeleteI thought Lamarck was very influential to Darwin's development of this theory of Natural selection as well. He seemed to be the underdog, not a lot of credit for what he did bring to the science world.
ReplyDeleteI found that your post was very insightful and I learned a lot from it. It is interesting to see how they differed in their findings and would love to learn more about where Lamarck went wrong/went about him finding that each individual adapted to surroundings.
ReplyDeleteI found that your post was very insightful and I learned a lot from it. It is interesting to see how they differed in their findings and would love to learn more about where Lamarck went wrong/went about him finding that each individual adapted to surroundings.
ReplyDelete