One individual who had a great positive influence on Charles Darwin's development of Natural Selection was Jean-Baptiste Lamark. When Lamark wrote his ideas on transmutation, Darwin was interested and started following him on it. He also used Lamark's idea of use and disuse of organs.
Although Jean-Baptiste was ignored throughout his lifetime, he published books on zoology and paleontology and in one the zoology books, it states Baptiste's theories of evolution. There is one thing he did do that was noticable. He did work on invertebrates and he was the first to seperate the Insecta.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/lamarck.html
Darwin could have developed his theory of Natural Selection without the influence of Baptiste's idea of use and disuse, but learning from other people's questionable theories improves your own theories. Baptiste's ideas were brought to Darwin's attention, Darwin decided to see for himself, he found out it was wrong and thought of something else.
Since Darwin was religious, he did not want to publish his ideas because he knew there would be controversy. When Alfred Russell Wallace wrote to him, that is when Darwin decided to publish his ideas.
Jessika,
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that Lamark had such a good influence on Darwin. I think that without him, Darwin wouldn't have thought of certain concepts, or at least not until further down the road. I didn't know that Wallace was really the main reason why Darwin decided to publish his ideas despite his religious background. Makes you wonder, without Wallace, would he have ever done it?
I also chose Lamarck as the biggest influence to Darwin and agree with you that he could have developed the theory on his own. It's interesting that all these different ideas from multiple people end up in the same theory centuries later..
ReplyDeleteHi Jessika! From what I researched about Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, I agree that his failings greatly benefited Darwin's research, but I think it's important to note more specifically why. It's important to mention what Lamarck was incorrect about; what his actual hypothesis was that Darwin disproved. To add a bit to your point about the use and disuse of organs, it was also that he believed that these traits were heritable; that if an organism had a beneficial trait that resulted from the use or disuse of certain organs, then that organism's offspring could and would inherit that trait. From what I read, this inspired Darwin to think more in depth about how evolutionarily beneficial traits were passed down, which greatly furthered his work. Lamarck's thoughts on the subject may have been incorrect, but Darwin began to think more about how beneficial traits were inherited, which is greatly why Lamarck was quite invaluable to Darwin's research and theory.
ReplyDeleteDarwin was interested on Lamark’s ideas and started following him? What if he hadn’t? Things might have been different. I feel like Lamark, Wallace, Malthus, Lyell all played a part in Darwins theory. If one of these people weren’t there to add their piece to the puzzle it might have been different. Darwin might not have been able to publish anything if he had never been influence by these people. They weren’t all Darwin’s ideas. Just like in music an artist is influence by something he hears and writes his own song. But there is always something that influences their thought or idea, I don’t thing they ever do anything just on there own. In my opinion Darwin couldn't have published his book all on his own.
ReplyDeleteCareful... Lamarck and Darwin were not contemporaries. Lamarck first presented his ideas in 1802, about seven years before Darwin was even born. Darwin would have been introduced to Lamarck's work when he studied naturalism in school and learned his work historically.
ReplyDeleteLamarck was really an excellent naturalist during his day. It is a shame that he is primarily known for his failed theory, not just because of all his other work that is generally ignored, but because he was the first to present a comprehensive mechanism for evolution. That is a big deal, even if it wasn't supported by the evidence.
Good discussion on whether or not Darwin could have developed his theory without Lamarck. I tend to agree. Lamarck was an important influence, but he wasn't the only naturalist of his time to consider evolution, plus Darwin had other important influences that would later guide him in the right direction (Malthus/Lyell).
It is interesting that you raise the issue of Darwin and his faith. That is very much up for debate, primarily because he was a very private man, but he did write things down and kept lots of journals. He was a man of faith (started off by going to seminary school), and I think, in part, that is why he had doubts about publishing, delaying for more than 20 years, because he hadn't completely resolved what his well-supported theory might do to his faith and his church and also to his very religious wife. Can you imagine presenting such a controversial idea, publicly? Do you think he was only worried about how this would impact him?
Missing the bullet points that relate to Lamarck?
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