1. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck had the most
influence over Darwin. Lamarack was incredibly close to creating the idea of
evolution. He noted that species changed according to how their environment
changed, which is essential to Evolution. His theory of inheritance of acquired
characteristics was taught to Darwin in schooling and gave him the basis for
his work. The only thing Lamarck missed was genetic information, which was what
Darwin needed to pick up on.
2. Lamarck claimed that life changes
through a natural process instead of a divine power. He also claimed that
organism adapt to their environment forcing organism to increase in complexity
from their early simple forms.
3. If the environment changes, the
traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different. This
was the main idea Lamarck discovered. He came up with idea that species adapted
to their environment
4. It is possible but not probable.
The basis of Evolution is the fact that species change to adapt to their
environment. This essential fact is what Evolution revolves around, and while
Lamarck could not figure out the genetics portion of Evolution he put Darwin in
the right direction.
5.The attitude of the church definitely
affected Darwin. The church, at the time, never has good initial interactions
with ideas that disagreed with basic principles of the church. Previous
thinkers have been killed, exiled, and arrested for speaking revolutionary
thoughts. Darwin must have had to word his book in a way to minimally upset the
church.
Hello Austin,
ReplyDeleteI actually considered choosing Lamarck as my most influential scientist towards Darwins theory, but ended up going with Malthus instead. I agree that Lamarcks contributions towards evolution were essential in Darwins research. Lamarck choosing to step up and speak against the norm in the opposition of what was widely accepted from creationism must have been a brave and bold choice to make. Also pointing out that Darwin was influenced by Lamarck, but was also able to add onto his theory, was an important aspect. Perhaps it would have been possible for Darwin to come to his theory despite the help that he received from studying Lamarcks work.
Nikki,
DeleteMake sure you access the student blogs from the "Course Blogs" page in Blackboard, not from the course blog discussion. You've managed to cross over into the other section. While this isn't technically a problem, it will make it difficult for me to grade comments and assign correct credit.
Thank you.
Hi Austin,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how well written your blog was. It defiantly made me see and learn about Lamarck in a different perspective. I like how you pointed out that Lamarck was able to point Darwin in the right direction because it is important to recognize that thanks to all these researchers each of them, if not some, were able to prove and answer their theories which have changed history today.
great post Austin, i did mine on Wallace so its nice to see a post on someone different. Wallace sent Darwin specimens to help prove that different animals in different environments adapt differently and evolved to survive under those specific conditions. I look forward to seeing some more of your posts.
ReplyDeleteA note of caution: Darwin and Lamarck did *not* come up with the idea of evolution. That idea was already being considered by the scientific community. The ideas contributed by Darwin and Lamarck was a *mechanism* of evolution, i.e., *how* evolution works.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct that the idea of trait transmission was a problem for Lamarck, but it was also a problem for Darwin who never knew about Mendel's paper on particulate inheritance. During Darwin's time, it was generally thought that inheritance occurred through the blending of blood (i.e., "blending inheritance") instead of Mendel's "particulate inheritance". This was a problem for Darwin because natural selection doesn't work with blending inheritance.
But aside from the issue of inheritance, what was the key difference between Lamarck's theory and Darwin's? Why did Darwin's work and Lamarck's didn't? (Hint: It has to do with the principle that individuals don't evolve; populations do.)
I'm not sure if I would give Lamarck that much credit for influencing Darwin. True, Lamarck's work was important, and he was the first to develop a comprehensive mechanism for evolution, but evolution was being considered by many scientists at that time. Someone else may well have influence Darwin without Lamarck.
I agree that Darwin was extremely careful about his publication, waiting more than 20 years to publish. But was he afraid of death or exile? Or was he afraid of something else? What repercussions concerned him?
Other than some minor points, good first post.
I agree that Lamarck had a large influence on Darwin's work. I even did further research on him. I believe that he showed darwin fundamental ideas, however I would argue that Thomas had the largest influence in Darwin Developing his theory of natural selection.
ReplyDeleteHis 1798 publication of An essay on the principle of population showed that in nature populations often increase in size, but the amount of resources stay the same. The population size depends on how many resources are available. This causes competition, a key point in natural selection.