Jean Baptiste Lamarck was one of the primary individuals to suggest
that people evolved from a lower species through adaptations over generations
of time. His works inspired Darwin's concepts of natural selection. I feel even
though Darwin did use some of his ideas and disregard later as they were
incorrect. Lamarck moved Darwin to continue his study and gather his own
theory.
Lamarck made a great contribution to the scientific
community, he brought to the table the theory that if “a structure or organ
would shrink or disappear if used less or not at all (pbs.org). I work in the
dental field and I have observed that people today are being born without
wisdom teeth as we don’t need them anymore.
Lamarck’s view is that evolution was the theory known as
inheritance of acquired characteristics. He believed new traits would be passed
on to the next of kin. This is incorrect explanation of passing along traits,
only genetic data enclosed in the eggs and sperm can be hereditary.
Darwin was influenced by Lamarck by his ideas of species
change. That was a huge part in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. Lamarck was ridiculed for some of his
incorrect explanations. Bringing new ideas to the table and being wrong, is a
chance all scientists run.
The attitude of the church regarding Darwin’s publication of
the book was that it affected people by finding it harder to keep their faith,
misled very easily, and not believing on the doctrine anymore. The scientific
book was causing people to think about different options on how evolution
works.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteYou offer a good explanation for the opening section, with just a couple of points. Neither Darwin nor Lamarck initially discussed human evolution as they both knew how explosive this would be (Darwin raises the issue in his second book).
ReplyDeleteSecond, in evolution, we don't talk about any directionality of evolution, i.e., from "lower" to more advanced organisms. That implies a sense of 'progress' that doesn't exist in evolution, which is just 'change' with no goal and no movement up any evolutionary ladder.
Missing a discussion on which bullet points can be applied to Lamarck's work? You mention the point on heredity but it isn't clear if you are highlighting this as addressing that part of the guidelines.
Missing the section on the issue of whether or not Darwin could have developed his theory without Lamarck?
With regard to the last section, the question addresses a time before Darwin published, so the church didn't know about his work yet. But that doesn't mean that the church's stance was unknown regarding the concept of evolution vs. creation, and Darwin would have been well-aware of the implications of his work. So how might that knowledge of how the church would respond to Darwin's ideas have influenced Darwin? He delayed publishing for more than 20 years. Why? What were his concerns? How might he have been negatively affected by publishing (personally and professionally) and how did the influence of the church play a role in this?
Make sure you read the guidelines carefully and clearly address each of the points there. You seem to have a good grasp of the material. Be sure that is clearly apparent in your assignments by including all required information.