Week 1- Historical Influences on Darwin: Jean Lamarck
One of the individuals that that influenced Darwin's Theory of Evolution was a French naturalist named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. He developed a theory called the use-disuse theory.
One of the contributions Lamarck made to the scientific community "was only one of the two mechanisms he proposed. As organisms adapted to their surroundings, nature also drove them inexorably upward from simple forms to increasingly complex ones"(O'Neil). Lamarck was trying to say that any species of animal doe not have genetic deficiencies and that they cannot go instinct. This theory of Lamarck is inaccurate because "only those traits that are influenced by genetic information contained within sex cells(eggs and sperm) can be inherited"(Jurmain, Kilgore, Trevathan, Ciochon, Bartelink 31). This allowed Darwin to question whether or not a species can have deficiencies in the genes. He also had to question whether or not a species can go instinct. This allowed Darwin to go on and do his own studies of evolution, improved Lamarck's theory, and built upon his theory. This was good for Darwin because he corrected the theory of evolution. This allowed him to study more of genes, their differences, and how a species can go instinct. Darwin could have developed his theory of natural selection during that time but, it would have taken him longer to develop the theory. The church on the other hand thought his theories where blasphemous; it went against what the church's beliefs. Ultimately, his theories were met with disdain from the church.
Works Cited:
One of the contributions Lamarck made to the scientific community "was only one of the two mechanisms he proposed. As organisms adapted to their surroundings, nature also drove them inexorably upward from simple forms to increasingly complex ones"(O'Neil). Lamarck was trying to say that any species of animal doe not have genetic deficiencies and that they cannot go instinct. This theory of Lamarck is inaccurate because "only those traits that are influenced by genetic information contained within sex cells(eggs and sperm) can be inherited"(Jurmain, Kilgore, Trevathan, Ciochon, Bartelink 31). This allowed Darwin to question whether or not a species can have deficiencies in the genes. He also had to question whether or not a species can go instinct. This allowed Darwin to go on and do his own studies of evolution, improved Lamarck's theory, and built upon his theory. This was good for Darwin because he corrected the theory of evolution. This allowed him to study more of genes, their differences, and how a species can go instinct. Darwin could have developed his theory of natural selection during that time but, it would have taken him longer to develop the theory. The church on the other hand thought his theories where blasphemous; it went against what the church's beliefs. Ultimately, his theories were met with disdain from the church.
Works Cited:
Jurmain, Robert, et al. Introduction to Physical Anthropology. Cengage Learning, 2018.
O'Neil, Dennis. “Early Concepts of Evolution: Jean Baptiste Lamarck.” Early Concepts of Evolution: Jean Baptiste Lamarck, evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_09.
Please think of these assignments as papers and format them accordingly. Each prompt should be addressed fully with its own separate paragraph of information. I'm having difficulty parsing out where you address each prompt. Don't make me guess.
ReplyDeleteYou have some good points in your opening section, but I'm not sure you understand the details of Lamarck's work, so I'll provide clarification:
Lamarck must be acknowledged as the first naturalist to propose an actual mechanism regarding the process of evolution. Even though the mechanism turned out to be wrong, this is a very big deal. Lamarck also recognized the importance of the environment on shaping organisms and he also understood that the traits must be heritable and passed on through reproduction in order for evolutionary changes to spread. So these are important to explain. The key difference between Darwin's and Lamarck's theories is when the evolutionary process occurs. Lamarck argued that individuals evolve and pass those changes onto their offspring. Darwin understood that this process wouldn't work. He argued instead that natural selection acted on existing natural variation in a population, selecting those variants that competed more successfully in a given environment and produced more offspring as a result. I.e., Darwin argued that "Individuals don't evolve. Populations do."
The second section asks you to identify the bullet points from the guidelines that you can best attribute to your chosen scientist, in this case Lamarck. I don't see where you address this, as I don't see any place where you identify any specific bullet point.
"Darwin could have developed his theory of natural selection during that time but, it would have taken him longer to develop the theory."
This needed to be expanded and explained. And if Lamarck was NOT crucial to Darwin, if he still could have developed his theory, perhaps one of the other scientists played a greater role? Make sure you read other student posts and learn about the contributions of the other scientists. Perhaps you will re-think your choice.
With regard to the last section, the church didn't know Darwin existed until after he published, and the question here is specifically about its impact on Darwin's decision to *publish*. Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. The question is, why? And how did the influence of the church play a role in this delay? What were Darwin's concerns? And was he only worried about himself or was he also worried about how his family might be impacted by publishing? Recognize that his wife was very devout. How might she have been impacted if the church responded negatively to Darwin? Remember that scientists don't work in a vacuum. They can be influenced not just by academics but also by social, cultural and personal issues.