Jean-Baptist Lamark was, I believe, one of the most influential scientists of Darwin and his development of his theory of Natural selection.
Lamark and Darwin had very different beliefs about evolution. Lamark believed that organisms had to change their behavior based on the changing environment. One of his examples was that giraffes used to have shorter necks than they do now but over time their necks grew longer because they were constantly have to reach and stretch out for food. While Lamark believed in spontaneous generation, Darwin believed in natural selection and that generations adapted to their surroundings but not by changing physically, but by passing those traits to their offspring. He believed that “species could go extinct rather than change into new forms”.
Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptist Lamark had very different views but Lamark really influenced Darwin. Darwin was able to see Lamark’s work and provide his own ideas based off of that. It helped him to prove himself and come up with his own ideas that were completely different yet having similar concepts. Here is a link I used: http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_09
One point stated in the outline “In order for traits to evolve and change, they MUST be heritable”. Both scientists believed this. Lamark and Darwin both believed that species changed or had to adapt according to the environment and that the offspring would have to inherit these traits as well.
Every scientist that influenced Darwin helped him to come up with his theories and beliefs. Without their thoughts, bodies of works or experiments, there may not have been a belief of Natural selection by the famous Charles Darwin. Even though Lamark and Darwin had very different views, they helped to shape each other and their beliefs. Without disagreements, there would be no differences.
“The growing fear of evolutionary ideas led many to believe that if these ideas were generally accepted, ‘the Church would crash, the moral fabric of society would be torn apart, and civilized man would return to savagery’ (Desmond and Moore, 1991, p. 34)”. This quote from the book suggests that many proponents of evolution were anti-Christian, but Darwin went to Christ’s College Cambridge and it was there that he acquired his interests in natural science. Therefore, influencing his book, On the Origin of Species.
Hi Sarah ,
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I believe that you hit it on the nail. I , agree that many people had a great influence on Darwin's theory ,for example George Culvier , who introduced the concept of extinction to explain the disappearance of animals represented by fossils, another person that probably contributed was Charles Lyell , who with Darwin, believed in uniformitarian , a theory that became popular as in Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection .Together these men helped Darwin to validate his own beliefs. Thanks , for your thoughts and ideas.
Margarita
Hi sarah,
ReplyDeleteAwesome job on the post. I think many people in Darwin's time had influenced his work and ideas. I think that sometimes some of the others go unknown and are found to be linked to Darwin's work through later findings. It was interesting to read how Lamark had an opposite idea or thinking than Darwin. Yet like you mentioned it opened up for Darwin to use that idea and prove in a sense that Darwin was more correct in this theory of natural selection. This provided Darwin to be able to let his ideas be true i nregards to counter arguing against the others in which he believed to either be false or partially correct.
Very good post. I like your contrast between Lamark and Darwin from a behavioral point of view, namely Lamark argued animals could change their physical shape by changing their behavior. Darwin disagreed. Excellent contrast. I've never heard it stated that way.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is a great line:
"Without disagreements, there would be no differences."
Well said.
I also do believe that all scientist had an influence on Darwin. It goes back to the scientific theory. Someone has a hypothesis and someone tries to falsify that hypothesis. If it wasn't for someone coming up with an hypothesis, where would have Darwin began his work or even know where to start. I also chose Lamarck and the sad thing is that his colleagues did not give him any respect for his contribution to the study of invertebrates that he knew nothing about. Nice Post.
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