preview

How Did Darwin Contribute To Lamarck's Theory Of Evolution?

Decent Essays
Open Document

Biology Assignment

The theories of the origin of the universe and it’s inhabitants has intrigued the human mind for over generations. The theories of evolution have developed historically through the contribution of various scientists, including Aristotle, Lamarck, Wallace, Darwin, Mendel and Lyell.

Aristotle was one of the earliest people to make an important and lasting contribution towards the theory of evolution. He was one of the greatest greek philosophers in the world and is sometimes even called, ‘the father of biology’. Greek and medieval references to "evolution" use it as a descriptive term for a state of nature, in which everything in nature has a certain order or purpose. This is a teleological view of nature. Aristotle …show more content…

The ladder of life influenced the western society for centuries until people became more knowing and started questioning the theory. This theory that Aristotle created was heavily influenced by his society at the time, he had a very naturalistic view and believed that everything was created perfect. Another thing that influenced Aristotle's beliefs was the bible and religion as he believed in the ‘static universe’ that the bible often spoke about, this idea had a significant effect on his theory and the fact that so many people heavily relied on religion in those times to explain what they didn’t know so his theory was not questioned very much.

Another person who contributed greatly to the theory of evolution was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Lamarck was a French naturalist, and created the theory of hereditary inheritance of acquired traits. Lamarck had a particular interest in the way that organisms adapted to their environment overtime. He started his career in 1793 as a botanist and later went on to become a founding professor at the ‘Muse National d’ Histerie Naturale’ where he studied invertebrates. Through these close studies Lamarck became interested with the similarities between …show more content…

He was a botanist on the HMS beagle, where he conducted many observations and documented them. He studied closely the Galapagos Islands and Australia very closely and this is where he originally created his theory of evolution. Darwin however was afraid to publish his ideas as this was not a very accepted idea at the time and he did not have a very high social standing. He later received a letter from Alfred Wallace who proposed similar ideas and they joined forces and published a theory of natural

Get Access