Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's Influence
- Unlike most individuals during their time, Darwin and Baptiste both thought life gradually developed over time, continuously. That organisms fit and change to adapt to the environment they live within. Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste both held positive influences over one another, due to developing scientific theories that surrounded the subject of natural selection.
- Lamarck was born August 1st, 1744 in France. He was the youngest sibling out of eleven children within his family. Lamark was one of the first in attempting to formulate an expanse of the animal kingdom. With this, he was also the first to coin the term, 'invertebrate.' Additionally, in the year of 1802, he invented the term, 'biology.'
- Lamarck is best known for his Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics, which was first presented in 1801. The basis of this theory stated, if an organism changes during life in order to adapt to its environment, those changes are passed on to its offspring. Furthermore, change is made by what the organisms want or need (Burkhardt). Similarly, Darwin believed that if the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different. Likewise, Darwin believed that organisms with traits that were better adapted to their environment would have greater reproductive success because those traits allowed them to be more competitive for the things they needed to reproduce. All in all, both scientists believed the environment made great impacts on the way a species' evolved. Darwin took Lamarck's ideas about the environment, and incorporated them within his own work in order to help formulate the evolutionary theory.
- Without Lamark's theories, Darwin may have struggled in forming his own theories. The environment plays a heavy complex role within evolution and adaptation. Moreover, Lamark also provided Darwin of a skeleton of the animal kingdom. Despite its inaccuracy, it aided and furthered Darwin's work. Ideas and theories never turn out accurate when first studied, as they start out as mere a mere hypothesis. Without a rough basis, an idea may never progress.
- At first, Darwin was hesitant to make his theories public due to the church's contrasting creationist beliefs. His religious wife, also feared the backlash her husband's theories may come with ("Charles Darwin's Faith and Religious Beliefs"). Nevertheless, he published his book, On the Origin of Species in 1859. The church attacked the book with hostility, and the series of debates that followed attempted to distort Darwin's theory of evolution including the beliefs that followed.
Works Cited
Burkhardt, Richard W. “Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 5 May 2014, www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Baptiste-Lamarck
“Charles Darwin's Faith and Religious Beliefs.” Charles Darwin's Faith and Religious Beliefs, www.age-of-the-sage.org/philosophy/charles_darwins_faith_religious_beliefs.html.
Hi Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteLamarck certainly had much influence over Darwin’s work. I think Lamarck is a good choice because without his discovery in different areas of science, Darwin might not have come to his conclusions for the theory of evolution.
It’s interesting that you mention a bit about Lamarck’s early life, however I’m not sure that part really plays any role in to his influence on Darwin’s work. You also mention key points like his attempt to formulate an expanse of the animal kingdom and coining the terms “invertebrate” and “biology” – I would have liked to read more about how he came up with those terms.
Lamarck’s work was essential in Darwin’s theory because he introduced the idea of heredity and passing traits along to offspring in order for them to have the best chance at surviving. I agree that Darwin would have struggled in forming his own theories without that influence from Lamarck. The very idea that animals could have branched from one original ancestor is the very basis of natural selection.
I also agree that Darwin’s wife may have deterred him from publishing his book earlier on. It’s interesting that even though he waited so many years to finally publish, he was still met with hostility. Even to this day, there are many people that don’t agree with his findings.
Great post!
The point of this assignment is to understand how the work of these scientists influenced Darwin's own work. To do that, we need to understand the work itself. The second section needed to include a description of Lamarck's key work that influenced Darwin. The information you provide is interesting but doesn't help us understand his impact on Darwin.
ReplyDeleteWhat mechanism did Lamarck develop? How was it similar to Darwin's mechanism? How did it differ?
I do note that you go onto describe Lamarck's mechanism in the third section, which is good, but it should have been part of the previous paragraph.
I agree with the two bullet points you highlight. There are a couple more I would have included. Lamarck recognized that there must be some sort of system of inheritance for evolution to work, regardless of the mechanism. I would also have included the point that "individuals don't evolve. Populations do", not because this was Lamarck's point but because he argued the opposite. Darwin recognized the problem with Lamarck's logic and countered it, so this could be viewed as a negative, oppositional influence by Lamarck.
I suggest that you are giving Lamarck too much credit over Darwin's work. Lamarck should certainly be credited as the first to propose an actual mechanism for evolution. This was a huge step forward, regardless of its inaccuracies, but there were many others discussing and debating evolution during Darwin's time, not to mention by the time Darwin was in school, Lamarck's theory was old news and falsified. Lamarck was important but not necessarily indispensable.
I agree with much of what you offer in your last section, but it must be noted that Darwin did delay publishing for more than 20 years, and this must be explained. Yes, his wife's religious faith was a concern, but Darwin had her read his ideas and requested her permission before publishing, but still he hesitated, and it's important to ask "why"? What were his fears and how did the church play a role? What repercussions might he and his family have faced, both professionally and socially?
Good sourcing.
By the way, well done including an image in your post. This will give you an advantage in future assignments.
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