Pre-Darwinian (book) Flashcards
(34 cards)
- one of the most revolutionary ideas in Western thought, perhaps rivaled only by Newton’s and Einstein’s theories of physics
- challenged the prevailing worldview, which had originated largely with Plato and Aristotle
Darwin’s theory of biological evolution
developed the notion that species have fixed properties
- Plato
- Aristotle
each species had been created individually by God in the same form it has today
special creation
must be permanent and unchanging, since change would imply that there had been imperection in the original creation
Great Chain of Being / Scala Naturae
When was natural history justified partly as a way to reveal the plan of creation so that we might appreciate God’s wisdom
as late as the 19th century
- established the framework of modern taxonomy in his Systema Naturae (1735)
- won worldwide fame for his exhaustive classification of plants and animals, undertaken in the hope of discovering the pattern of the creation
Carolus Linnaeus
what does relatedness mean for Carolus Linnaeus
propinquity in the Creator’s design
- started to give way in the belief of the literal truth of the biblical story of creation
- however, several French philosophers and naturalists suggested that species had risen by natural causes
18th century
- philosophical movement that give way in belief of the literal truth of the biblical story of creation
- largely inspired by Newton’s explanations of physical phenomena
- adopted reason as the major basis of authority and marked the emergence of science
enlightenment
laid foundations for evolutionary thought
astronomers and geolgist
developed theories of the origin of stars and planets
astronomers
amassed evidence that Earth had undergone profound changes, that it had been populated by many creatures now extinct, and that it was very old
geologist
expounded the principle of uniformitaianism
- James Hutton
- Charles Lyell
holding that the same processes operated in the past as in the present and that the data of geology should therefore be explained by causes that we can now observe
uniformitarianism
- life has originated many times
- each lineage that descends from one of these origins becomes more complex
- orgainsms range from recently originated, simple forms of life to older, more complex forms
Lamarck’s hypothesis
- species become different from each other in various feature, not necessarily becoming more complex
- descent with modification
- from a single ancestor, different lineages arise by speciating from existing
- some may undergo less modificaion from the ancestral condition than others
Darwin’s hypothesis
where Lamarck hypothesized that different organisms originated separately by spontaneous generation from nonliving matter, starting at the bottom of the chain of being
Philosophie Zoologique (1809)
- stated that organisms altered their behavior in response to environmental change
- Their changed behavior, in turn, modified their organs, and their offspring inherited those “improved” structures
Chevalier de Lamarck
acts within species, causing it to progress up the chain
nervous fluid
principle which states that the alterations, acquired during an individual’s lifetime, are inherited
inheritance of acquired characteristics
theory of evolution based on the inheritance of acquired characteristics
Lamarckism
when did Darwin join the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle
1831, age 22
duration of the vorage of Beagle
December 27, 1831 - October 2, 1836
pointed out that Darwin’s specimens of mockingbirds from the Galapagos Islands were so different. Darwin then recalled that the giant tortoises, too, differed from one island to the next
John Gould
