I have chosen Jean-Baptiste Lamark in having the most influence over Darwin's development of the theory of Natural Selection. Lamark's gave many great ideas and theories to the scientific community even though most of those theories have been discredited today. Lamarks thinking was that all things started from simple organisms and that through generations they evolved towards more complex forms. He also believed that organisms evolved depending on their environments and surroundings. Over time if a organism did not use a certain body part or organ those would shrivel up and not be passed on to the offspring. His most notable theory was that giraffes started with shorter necks, but would stretch their necks for high tree leaves. The change in their behaviors passed on those improved structures. The bottom line was that Lamark believed that evolution was a constant process of organisms striving for perfection over many generations.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/3/l_023_01.html
The bullet point that was most influential by Lamark would be "If the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different." This point was influenced by Lamarks work because his thoughts and beliefs were that organisms evolved depending on its surroundings. This also created new species that could survive depending on the environment in which the organism lived in.
I think that Darwin still would have developed the theory of Natural selection without the influence of Lamark's ideas, but they did probably give him the push he needed. When Darwin set sail on his journey around the world his beliefs were set on the idea of Fixity, that God created man and we do not change and we are perfect. When Darwin discovered the Finches, and started to realize that depending on the environment the Finches were found in they appeared to have different traits making them different species. This gave Darwin the thought that organisms do evolve depending on their environments, which was the ideas of Lamark.
The Church had Darwin thinking of the idea Fixity, but after his journey Darwin had a different out look on things. Back then people mostly scientist were executed for trying to use science to prove a natural phenomena. Darwin was hesitant to publish his book because of the consequences he could face, Not until Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an article and Darwin became aware he was going to publish about the Theory of Evolution did he go and release the book Origins Species, and we thank him for that.
This is Informative, in-depth discussion. I chose Thomas Malthus as who I believed was most influential, but it seems like Lamarck's ideas were something of a prototype, a jumping off point for Darwin to expand upon, and correct as necessary, starting with the idea of inherited traits.
ReplyDeleteI liked your post because it seemed to me that you had the greatest understanding of Lamarck out of all the other Lamarck posts I've read so far. I'm glad that you included that many of Lamarck's theories have been discredited today because it shows not every thought or idea has to be 100% correct for it to be influential or for it to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteThis is excellent, you were more in depth about Lamarck than I could ever be. Your post leaves just about no room for disagreement, it just fortified everything I said in my post a little better. Lamarck believed that heredity and environment shaped species of earth however I just feel that Darwin could not have developed his theory without Lamarcks because it was his uncredited ideas that really gave him the push he needed with out someplace to start or it might have taken him longer to even get his theory out
ReplyDeleteHi Steven,
ReplyDeleteI thought your post was excellent! I particularly like how you described the changes in Darwin’s mindset pertaining to his belief in the idea of Fixity, and how his studies of evolution altered his original beliefs. Personally, I had the hardest time deciding if Lamarck or Malthus were most influential to Darwin. Clearly, Lamarck’s studies suggesting that humans evolved from lower species ignited the idea in Darwin’s mind that, over time, all species evolve. Yet I believe, without Malthus’s work, Darwin would not have been able to prove the big question, which is: why. Why do species evolve? Because of Malthus’s work, Darwin was able to prove that overpopulation, combined with the limited amount of life sustaining resources, are the triggers that actually cause the evolution that Lamarck suggested. To explain that evolution occurs is important, however, I feel that proving how and why it occurs is the most crucial aspect to the theory’s overall acceptance, and for this reason, I feel that Malthus was the greatest contributor to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution based on Natural Selection.
In general, good background on Lamarck's work, with a few clarifications:
ReplyDelete"His most notable theory was that giraffes started with shorter necks, but would stretch their necks for high tree leaves."
This was only an example of his theory, not a theory in and of itself.
"The change in their behaviors passed on those improved structures."
The change in behaviors produced a change in the related structures which was then passed on to the offspring. Don't skip any steps or it doesn't make sense!
How did Lamarck's work differ from Darwin's? What mistakes in process did Lamarck make that Darwin corrected?
I agree with your bullet point selection but there are several that could apply to Lamarck, including the importance of reproduction and heritability to the evolutionary process.
I agree with your stance on the influence of Lamarck. I'm sure he was influential but none of the ideas Darwin took from Lamarck were completely unique to Lamarck. He was mostly important for his errors and how those mistakes highlighted how evolution actually works.
Great final discussion. Well-explained.
thank you
ReplyDelete