Lamarck

’s Influence On The Development Of Darwin’s Theory Of Evolution Essay, Research Paper

Lamarck’s Influence on the Development of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Dec. 4 1996

Marc Weinstein

There have been many ideas on the theory of evolution. Some simply take our

existence for granted, others prefer to explain all evolution in terms of the

bible and the presence of a God. However, there are those who have researched

the topic of evolution and have offered an explanation as to where a species

comes from and how they evolved in the manner that they did. This type of

science has been studied for a very, very long time, and one of the most famous

minds in the field of evolution was a man named Charles Darwin. Darwin was not

the first one to offer theories on evolution. There have been many scientists

who preceded him. These earlier evolutionists came up with models of evolution

that were unfortunately unworkable. One of these early pioneers was Jean-

Baptiste Lamarck. Lamarck believed in deism and advocated natural religion based

on human reason. He believed in the harmony and rationality of the world. And

although flawed, the work of Lamarck did not go unnoticed, however. Darwin also

believed in the harmony of the world, and it was Darwin himself who said that

Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on evolution brought about

excitement and attention. He was the one who showed law in organic and inorganic

species evolution. As it turned out, the work of Lamarck was quite influential

on Darwin. Lamarck’s views on inheritance of characteristics can be seen in

Darwin’s accounts of natural selection. When Lamarck wrote of transmutation,

Darwin followed with his beliefs of the mutability of species. As well, Darwin

had used Lamarck’s ideas on use and disuse of organs. Lamarck was not the

greatest of influences on Darwin, but he was an important one.

One of the most important arguments in Darwin’s theories was the idea of natural

selection. It is generally thought that the world first heard of this idea in

the form of Lamarck’s inheritance of acquired traits theory. Lamarck’s work

showed that organisms improve themselves on their own. Then these new advantages

for the environment would be passed on to the species offspring on the genetic

level. This idea of self improvement detailed how, through hard work of the

organism, the path of evolution was continuous, always improving to the point of

perfection. Lamarck had said that organisms must first be faced with a different

mode of environment that would trigger some sort of pressure for an altered gene,

to be inherited in the next generation. This process has come to be known as

Lamarckism. (Gould, 1980) Darwin did not deny any of this. He regarded it as

support for natural selection as an evolutionary mechanism. Darwin’s theory was

more complex then Lamarck’s, but the basic structure was there. Darwin had

rooted his theory on the concept of adaptation, just as Lamarck had previously

done. Adaptation is the notion of organisms responding to a changing

environments by evolving either a form or function of the body that would better

suite it in the environment. Lamarck had explained that the method of transfer

of information was directly to the organism, the animal would perceive the

change and simply respond in the necessary way so that their offspring can be

better adapted. Darwin’s answer to what the mechanism is was much different.

Darwin spoke of there being two components, variation and direction.(Gould,

1980) Darwin had taken into account that the species did indeed create offspring

that were better suited for the environment, just as Lamarck had said. Darwin

proposed that instead of direct transfer of environmental change, those that

vary by good fortune are better suited for the environment and leave more

surviving offspring. A species would have this beneficial trait through random

variation. Then, the characteristic would help the animal survive, while the

others died off. This ensured that the beneficial trait would get passed on.

This explanation is similar to Lamarkism, with obvious adjustments. Darwin

simply showed that natural selection is, above all, a theory about the struggle

of individual survival and reproduction. Lamarck’s theory on inheritance of

acquired characteristics is not that much different, infact, Lamarckism has

occasionally been mistaken for Darwinism. Darwin did indeed take Lamarck’s

inheritance of characteristics theory and modify it so that he improved upon it.

This shows how Lamarck influenced Darwin to create the natural selection theory.

It did not stop there, though. Lamarck also influenced Darwin with the idea of

transmutation, and prompted Darwin to theorize on that aspect of evolution as

well.

Transmutation was an idea resulting in the problem that Lamarck faced when

dealing wi

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать