Two of the bullet points that most directly relate to Lamarck's work are:
- If the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different.
- In order for traits to evolve and change, they must be heritable.
Lamarck recognized that the environment plays a huge role in evolution. He acknowledges that species adapt to their environment. Darwin came to similar conclusions about the environment's role in evolution. His theory about the inheritance of acquired traits influenced Darwin's theory of evolution because in introduced the idea of heredity in evolution.
One bullet point that doesn't agree with Lamarck is:
- Individuals do not evolve. Populations do.
Lamarck hypothesized that individuals change and adapt to their environment which in turn leads them to pass on those traits to their offspring. According to Lamarck's ideas, evolution could therefore occur within generations which goes against Darwin's reasoning that evolution happens between generations.
I don't think that Darwin could have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of Lamarck. Lamarck was a naturalist before Darwin and was one of the first to propose the idea of evolution through the inheritance of acquired traits. Darwin's theory is influenced by Lamarck's proposal that species inherit traits from their parents, although Darwin rejected the inheritance of traits as proposed by Lamarck.
Because the church supported the Biblical account of creation, Darwin faced challenges in publishing On the Origin of Species which proposed an alternative theory to creation than that proposed in the Bible. The church was definitely not supportive of Darwin's theory of evolution and rejected it, making Darwin reluctant to publish his book.
I also did mine on Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, so I agree with most of the points you made. However, I didn't think that "Individuals do not evolve, populations do" bullet point disagreed with Lamarck's ideas. I thought it went with his ideas. Maybe I misinterpreted his ideas because your explanation seems to make a lot of sense. I thought that Darwin and Lamarck agreed upon evolution occurring between generations and not just individually. Well, you learn something new everyday! Thanks for the post because it was definitely informative!
ReplyDelete"Jean Baptiste Lamarck was one of the first scientists who proposed an idea of evolution. "
ReplyDeleteActually, the idea of evolution had been around for a while. Your source traces it back to Buffon, but recognition that animals seem to change traits over time may well have been noticed even earlier than this, but as this contradicted the biblical story of the creation of organisms, it was not a central topic of exploration. (Rereading that first phrase, it is not clear if you recognize this point or not, but you may since you refer to an "idea" of evolution?)
Lamarck was first to propose a mechanism for evolution. The mechanism was wrong, but that doesn't take away from the importance of this first step in understanding how evolution works. I would have liked more explanation on how his theory of acquired characteristics worked. It is important to understand why Lamarck's theory didn't work and why Darwin's did.
Very good choice of bullet points, particularly highlighting that third that contradicts Lamarck's work. Well done and well explained.
Yes, Lamarck was the first to develop an evolutionary mechanism but many scientists during Darwin's time and prior to that were exploring this idea, including his own grandfather, Erasmus. Could another scientist have influenced him in Lamarck's place? Possibly. Did Lamarck influence Darwin? Absolutely, but that doesn't necessarily mean Lamarck was indispensable to Darwin. (FYI, I suggest that Lyell and Malthus ideas may have actually been indispensable to Darwin. What do you think?)
"The church was definitely not supportive of Darwin's theory of evolution and rejected it, making Darwin reluctant to publish his book. "
Until he published, the church didn't even know about his theory. I agree that the attitude of the church toward ideas that contradicted the churches view of the world was not welcoming, but what, specifically, concerned Darwin? He delayed publishing for over 20 years? What fears caused this delay and what role did the churches influence play in this decision?
I believe that Lamarck help strengthen his theory. I also think his theory could have been published as he already thought up the idea of Natural selection but given that he was afraid to put it out because it lacked data and the church, gave him the opportunity to discover what Lamarck was, and was able to learn a new way than what Lamarck tried.
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