Manfred Kober Evidence

Charles Darwin was an influential ideologist, known as the father of evolution. He created the theory of evolution in which species change overtime through what he called natural selection. Natural selection is the process when organisms that are better adapted to their environment survive and pass on their genetics. In The Descent of Man, Darwin explains various topics such as the similarities between races, the relevance of evolution in society, and the process of sexual selection. Ideas of The Descent of Man, were explored before Darwin, but what sets him apart is that he wanted to find the origin of man and ape as opposed to just stating similarities and differences. The theories that Darwin created contributed knowledge to evolution as

Darwin’s theory of evolution was along the lines of all life being related- each descending from a common ancestor. His theory presumes the development of life from non-life and suggests purely naturistic

Both theories suggest that a species changes over time to be able to better adapt to an environment. Though Lamarck thought that the entire population of that species would evolve as one, i.e. all offspring changes together with same adaptation. Darwin concluded that only the specimen with the mutation or an altered version of a feature to evolve a species as they would be able to adapt and survive easier than those without it, thus causing the “unevolved” to die off while the “evolved” lived. Over many many generations the species keeps evolving until it has perfected the new trait, also becoming a new

Charles Darwin believed in Evolution and natural selection. Evolution according to Charles Darwin was that all life is related in some way and has descended from a common ancestor. As random genetic mutations occur in an organism’s genetic code, the beneficial mutations aid in survival – this is called natural selection. Organisms that develop random mutations are better adapted to their environment and tend to survive and produce more offspring. Lamarck’s viewpoint on evolution was the law of use and disuse. He hypothesised that organisms react to changes in their environment by changing or strengthening a certain organ. Whilst an organ will stop working or disappear if it is stopped being used. The fault is this theory was that it could not explain how these strengthened or unused organs are passed on to other generations of the same organism. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is right, but Lamarck wasn’t far off the mark. A good example of Lamarck’s law of use and disuse in the Homo sapiens is that of the appendix. The appendix is an organ which is commonly believed to have ‘stopped working’, this organ was the remnant of large fermenting gut for plant life. This organ has ceased to work as Homo sapiens have stopped eating plant matter and started to eat organisms consisting of meat. This somewhat strengthens Lamarck’s

Lamarckian(p. 12, para. 2)- “Reference to Lamarch’s ideas, popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that evolution takes

Evolution has been a very debatable topic since the theory of evolution first evolved. By definition, evolution is “the process by which different kinds of living organism are believed to have developed from earlier forms during the history of the earth”, but there are many different types of “evolution” such as coevolution, divergent, parallel and convergent – all with different theories. Jean Baptiste Lamarck was a French naturalist who invented the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics (aka. “soft inheritance”). This evolutionary theory described how the natural environment affected the way an animal used their body parts. The features used regularly or for survival are passed onto the creatures offspring, and the parts that weren’t used, weren’t. On the other hand, another English naturalist Charles Darwin established a theory of “natural selection”. A process in which creatures that survived in their environment would pass their genes through the generations, compared to the weaker species with a lower survival rate, who reproduce less offspring or none.

As pointed out in a lecture, the concept of evolution or the transformation of species was already formulated before Charles Darwin’s time. Herbert Spencer, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, and notably Charles Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, all had both publicly and prominently discussed the concept of transformation of species for some time prior, while many other scientists of the period proposed theories that suggested a struggle for survival as the driving force towards evolution . Thus, Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection and environmental pressures was not thought of in a vacuum. Instead, Darwin’s theory of evolution was a product of his time, as Darwin was heavily influenced by thinkers of both the Romantic and Enlightenment

Lamarck believed that a population of individuals all of the same kind (identical characteristics in all members). Individuals capable of transformation. Whereas Darwin thought that a population of interbreeding individuals with similar characteristics, though variation is common among all of them at all times. Individuals fixed and unchanging. Population capable of transformation. For example Lamarck also thought that if a giraffe

Jean Lamarck born in 1744 in France (Charton. B, 2009) and became one of the most known scientists of all time. He was pushed towards a career in the church and attended a Jesuit college in the late 1750s, he then went on to pursue a career in the military before being decommissioned due to injury. After arriving home, Lamarck pursued his passion for botany and released the first dichotomous key, after a while Lamarck turned his interest to the animal kingdom in particular evolution (Packard, A.S,1901).Lamarck was one of the earliest evolutionary scientists, and not unlike many other evolutionary scientists Jean Lamarck established that organisms adapt to their environment. Lamarck formed a theory to try and explain this phenomenon. Similarly

Unfortunately, an injury forced him to resign in 1768 but his fascination for botany endured. According to BBC UK, Lamarck believed that a characteristic which is used more and more by an organism becomes bigger and stronger; therefore one that is not used eventually disappears. Any characteristic of an organism that is improved through use is passed to its offspring. For example, a giraffe stretches its neck to reach food. This means that the neck gets longer because it is used a lot and that the offspring inherit its long neck. Lamarck was the first biologist to propose a mechanism for evolution – he proposed that organisms acquired features as they needed them (amazingdiscoveries.org). Additionally, other animals, such as kangaroos, have forelimbs that are short because they don’t use them as much as their legs or tail. The transformation theory suggests that the current generation can possess certain traits

Charles Darwin broached the theory of natural selection in his book the Origin of Species, which has been considered the basis of evolutionary biology to this day. Natural selection is when populations of a species evolve over the course of many generations. Darwin believed that species were not created separately, but instead, species were derived from one another. In other words, the evolution of species creates many variations among creatures, and this is because all of those species came from a common ancestor, and characteristics changed to increase the species chance of survival.

Lamarck theorized that all organisms strive for survival through a perfect place in their world. This was accomplished with organisms passing down certain traits to their young so that they are better equipped for survival. This would become a fundamental concept for Charles Darwin and his book The Origin of Species. In this book, Charles Darwin comes up with the idea that these traits passed down genetically are the difference between a species surviving or dying off. The offspring that gain these genetic advantages are now the dominant species and have evolved to become better equipped to survive in their particular environment. This idea of natural selection determines what species are able to live and what species die. But how do you humans fit into the idea of natural

French naturalist Jean Baptiste Lamarck was the first to propose the idea that plants and animals changed over time to adapt to the environment and increase survival. He believed that the changes in form of plans and animals passed down to their offspring, this idea he called Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characteristics (Lamarckism). A well-known example for Lamarckism is the giraffe and their long necks. According to Lamarck, giraffes stretched their neck to reach high branches to get food over a long period of time which resulted to the development of elongated necks, then they passed the elongated necks to their offspring.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1755-1829) is one of the best-known early evolutionists, holding a belief that evolution was a continuous development and strived toward greater complexity and perfection. Through which, his theory of evolution was that living organisms evolved in a unceasingly up ward direction, from dead matter, through simple to more complex forms and towards human “perfection” (Nesci.edu, 2015). From his theories of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics; where organisms adapt to their environments and those changes were passed onto their off springs (Corbis, 2001), to his theories of Use and Disuse, where organisms that are not used progressively disappear (Evolution.berkeley.edu, 2015). Lamarck was the first biologist to publish

Many knowledge claims in human and natural science are based on theories. Jean Lamarck proposed the theory of evolution in 1801. The theory of evolution proposed by Lamarck was based on the idea that organisms had to change their behavior to survive. For instance, if a giraffe stretched it neck for a long period of time to reach the leaves as the top of the tree, then a “nervous fluid” would flow in the neck and make it longer. Thus, its