Thursday, February 7, 2013
Historical Influences on Darwin
Jessica Cedillo
Anthro. 101
1. Jean Baptiste Lamark attempted to explain the evolutionary process. He suggested that there was a correlation between species and their environment. He went on to explain that if the environment of a species changed so would the species, in order to accommodate to its surroundings. The results of the species accommodations would be that the species would either develop or begin to lack certain body parts that the species needs or doesn't need to survive. The body parts that they need would be modified so that they would be increasingly used and the body parts that the species does not need would eventually over time decrease and cease to exist.
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/history_09
2. The point most effected by Jean Baptiste Lamark is that if the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different. This point was influenced by Jean because he proposed that species adapt to their environment. In this point, it states that the traits that are helpful will essentially be the most successful in the natural environment.
3. I don't think Darwin would have been able to develop his theory of natural selection without Jean Baptiste Lamarks theory because Jean was able to pave the way for Darwin. He was able to explain how species evolve to meet needs to their surroundings and Darwin used this as a plateau to work off.
4. The Church greatly affected Darwin and his publication of On the Origin of Species by prolonging his publication. Darwin was fearful of how the Church would respond to his book and knew he would receive great criticism and even be looked down upon for his books publication.
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Jessica I enjoyed how you choose Jean Baptiste Lamark, I was also going to have the same choice but I decided to take a different route. Lamark had a lot of research on the evolutionary process. He was one of the first people to have the theory that species change over time due to their survival in the environment they live in. If it was not for Lamark Darwin would have needed much more research for his theory. Lamark as you said gave him the head start and push, and Darwin finished strong.
ReplyDeleteExcellent job pointing out that Lamarck highlighted the connection between the environment and evolved traits! Very good point, and this is one thing shared between Lamarck's work and Darwin's.
ReplyDeleteOne thing missing... As you describe Lamarck's theory, there really isn't a difference apparent between Lamarck's work and Darwin's. What are these key differences? Why did Darwin's work differ from Lamarck's that made it successful where Lamarck's failed?
You give Lamarck a little more credit than I would regarding how crucial he was for Darwin. The concept of evolution wasn't a foreign one during Darwin's time. Many scientists (including Darwin's grandfather) toyed with the idea but you could argue that Lamarck was perhaps the first to create such a coherent theory and mechanism. More than anything, perhaps it was Lamarck's errors that pushed Darwin to rethink the mechanism and contribute his own.
Yes, Darwin delayed publishing his book for decades out of fear of repercussions. Was he only afraid for his own reputation or did he have other concerns as well?
Good first post.