Lamarck was one of the first scientists to propose the idea that organisms changed over time. A major proposal he had was the idea of inheritance of acquired traits. This idea states that a new trait or ability obtained in one's lifetime could be inherited by their offspring for future use. When Darwin began further expanding on evolution, however, this idea was found not to be correct.
The idea that Lamarck influenced the most, is that in order for traits to evolve and change, they must be heritable. However, Lamarck believed in evolution involving the use and disuse of organs: an organ that is more utilized will be enhanced upon, but an organ underutilized will degenerate. Although Darwin believed in this sort of change in organisms, he adopted a different approach. Rather than new traits or changes taking place within lifetimes as Lamarck had predicted, Darwin hypothesized that these sorts of drastic changes could only take place through a continuity of variation over longer periods of time.
Darwin may have been able to develop his theory without Lamarck's ideas serving as a precursor. However, Darwin would potentially have to consider many other possible hypotheses, for Lamarck's work wouldn't have been readily available to critique or expand upon.
Darwin did not wish to rush publishing his work on evolution/natural selection, as he had a lot of thorough research to continue pursuing. Also, had he published it earlier than he did, he could have potentially received far more religious opposition for a theory that had been unpopular, and perceived as blasphemy.
Source(s): http://www.majordifferences.com/2013/05/difference-between-darwinism-and.html#.V7_c99QrKt8
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI see why you believe that Lamarck was who impacted Darwin the most because of his theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, in the beginning i was doubtful of who influenced him the most, and I think they all did in a certain way because they all connect to his theory somehow. for example, Lamarck's idea of the use and disuse of certain part of the body will create new traits is related to Darwin's theory that animals create new traits when they reproduce but I believe that Malthus caused the most impact on him because with his concern of the population growing so much and so fast nature wouldn't be able to keep up with the resources, because according to Malthus the population was just gonna grow and grow and resources stayed the same for either a small or bigger population. After this Darwin extended his studies and discovered that when the population grows, there is competition for resources, they have to survive to adulthood to be able to reproduce and survive to the environmental changes, a clear example of this is turtles, they produce hundreds of eggs but not all of them make it to the ocean, because if they did i think there would be more turtles than humans :)
Hello, Dante Arevalo,
ReplyDeleteI also researched Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and agree that his own ideas about the evolutionary process helped Darwin create his own theory and ultimately to come up with his theory of natural selection. Had Lamarck's work not been available to Darwin, he may have had trouble coming to the conclusion that he came to and we may have ended up with different ideas of evolution altogether, as you also stated. I don't quite understand how Lamarck's work might have influenced Darwin's idea of traits only able to evolve or change if they are heritable traits. Lamarck believed that any new trait that was developed by an organism would be passed down to it's offspring. I would assume that you meant by Lamarck being wrong, he influenced Darwin to create a more possible idea. I enjoyed reading someone else's research on Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Thank you for your post.
Good basics on Lamarck's theory with a few corrections. Lamarck didn't just propose the "idea" of evolution. The concept of evolution had been around for quite a long time. Lamarck was important because he was the first to go beyond just claiming that evolution occurs to proposing a mechanism of specifically *how* evolution occurs. For clarification, Lamarck came before Darwin, so he didn't "build on" Darwin's work. He provided part of the foundation of work Darwin was exposed to when he attended university.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your choice of bullet points, but I would also highlight the point on environmental change for Lamarck. He recognized the role that the environment played in the process of evolution, with individuals responding to their environment to produce the necessary trait changes.
"...Darwin would potentially have to consider many other possible hypotheses."
Even with Lamarck's theory, this is what Darwin did. :-) But I agree that Darwin likely would have been able to develop his theory even without Lamarck's work. I would argue other individuals (e.g., Malthus and Lyell) provided more keystone work to push Darwin in the right direction.
In general, I agree with your final section, but recognize that almost no one knew of Darwin's work until he actually published. Only a few close friends and colleagues were aware of the theory. So Darwin's reluctance was based entirely upon both the concern of presenting a complete, comprehensive theory AND concerns over the response of a church-influences population. What were some of his concerns with regard to possible repercussions? Was he worried only about how he would be impacted or was he also worried about his family?
Good source. I haven't come across that one before.