Plato to Darwin to Dna Essay

The book “Plato to Darwin to DNA: A Brief History,” written by Esther Muehlbauer, is a summary on the history of biology. This book introduces some of the first and most influential philosophers along with the contributions they made to Biology. This book explains how the biology evolved through the discoveries and theories of these ancient philosophers along with the influences of ancient cultures. As Esther states in her introduction of the book, Natural Science was born from Philosophy (Muehlbauer, 2015).

Aristotle, the last of the great Greek philosophers, circa 384-322 B.C. and the first of Europe’s great biologists , who studied at Plato’s academy. He believed that everything in the natural world can be categorized into nonliving things with no potential for change, and living

We look to metaphors as a way to understand one thing by comparing it to another thing, and in this case, we compare knowledge within a discipline to the principles of natural selection. The principles of natural selection are the “Principle of variation”, the “Principle of heredity”, and the “Principle of selection”. These principles are evidently shown with the development of knowledge in disciplines with sciences and history as different areas of knowledge. Though, in the development of the knowledge in science are more apparent that the development of knowledge in history. While technological and biological advancements are evident in our modern world observations, human advancements are more difficult to measure as how much change is required

There always has been a controversy whether evolution really did happen or not. Many evolutionists, philosophers and biologists have presented sufficient evidence that evolution is true. Yet there is still debate about this contentious topic. With the facts and findings of fossil records of earlier species, ideas of initial theorists, and our own genetics and DNA, evolution can be hard to prove wrong. Evolution is not just a change over time, but that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor. This process is occurring in our lives right now.

In 1859, Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species: by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, a work which was set change our ideas on how we think about the natural world, how it works, ways in which it develops itself. Although making the briefest of commentaries about the human, parallels in thinking can be drawn on the behaviour of the natural world to the way of humans. I will look to understand nature first to analysis if our behaviour as humans is similar to that of the natural world, to understand the barriers that may effect change or to an extreme evolution. I believe it is essential to understand nature first as humans share many traits with the natural world, e.g.

Science has come a long way, helping humans to understand the mysteries of this planet. The science of anthropology has help to find the origins and remains of early humans. In addition, it has assisted to have a better understanding of the evolutionary changes that humans went through before becoming the humans of today. Biology has been a social support for the understanding of evolutionary changes of humans and other animals—primates. However, the evolutionary changes that humans have gone through, who can really say that they have been only biological changes nonimpacted by other factors. Perhaps, culture has played and continues playing an enormous

In a society based on survival of the fittest, adaptation and evolution are the keys to success. If there is a hurdle that a species cannot conquer as it is, it will then do everything it must to overcome it, even if that means change. Throughout time, evolution has helped us to thrive in the toughest of times. The human species is at the top of its class, overthrown by no other, but what happens when a species begins to encounter hurdles within its own society? Can the human species overthrow itself, making a new kind of human? (Bear 195) Did Charles Darwin leave out the last piece of the puzzle? If adaptation and evolution are inevitable when faced with a problem, then the demise of our species as we know it and

In the last century, scientific process has become dominant, praised and one of the most widely accepted ways to gather and test information about our surroundings. In response to such acknowledgment, science benefited the humankind with many important discoveries that changed our perception of life and even shaped our understanding of the origins of species.

Pythagoras was a Greek Philosopher and Mathematician born approximately around the time of 570 b.c. in Samos, Greece, He was the founder of the Pythagorean Brotherhood, a group of followers that adhered to a set of guidelines laid out by the Philosopher himself.. In his lifetime one of his most notable contributions to the field of math was publicizing the mathematical theorem now known as the Pythagorean Theorem, the well-known geometric theorem that the sum of the squares on the legs of a right triangle are equivalent to the square on the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle)—or, in familiar algebraic notation, A2+B2= C2. Throughout the ages there have been many myths, legends, and rumors about pythagoras circulating about, due to the fact that little is known about his him or his brotherhood. Pythagoras was recognized as being a spiritual leader, of which many myths were told, and who adhered largely to the idea that dietary means are quintessential to a person’s spiritual growth

Core lecture this week is titled "The Literature of Natural History and the Idea of Evolution” lectured by Tom Hothem who is a co-coordinator of Core 1. The argument revolved around the idea that the history of natural science and the idea of evolution began from classification. Due to classification, much of the knowledge known about natural science are able to be created. Without the existence of classification, no one would be able to define or even discuss the matter on the names. Classification can be defined as a criteria that various individuals created to justify what objects, places, and things that exist in this society. However, not all classification were considered to be perfect or the best as there are some that go through changes.

When Charles Darwin published The Origen of Species in 1859, he knew the asseverations made in it would cause a rift in the scientific community of his day. Also, he knew that his work would not be received by humanity with open arms because of the dogmatic idea of creation that was predominant in his time. Nonetheless, he went ahead and published the results of his extensive and detailed work because he knew, that not doing so would cause him to lose the right to claim this discovery for himself. At first, the scientific community attacked his arguments because they were against the traditional beliefs, but eventually his ideas began to gain ground until they became one of the pillars of modern science. Upon considering these facts, I believe it is important to ponder on the reasons behind the opposition to Darwin’s ideas, how he managed to convey them, and more importantly how these ideas helped shape our understanding of biological history.

Finally, in chapter four, we reach “Natural Selection”. Of all the sections in the book, this is the most important. These forty-three pages of brilliance outline perfectly how everything in nature is molded by this fundamental property that has been occurring for millions of years. The main ideas presented include sexual selection, extinction, functions of evolution.

Since the dawn of time, the theory of evolution has played an important role in the process of understanding human history and modern thinking. However, this theory didn’t always have an explicit term to clarify its meaning. Philosophers embraced the ideals of knowledge and enlightenment of reason—searching for answers as to better understand the origins of mankind and how it attributes to what it means to be human. Alongside social progress and intellectual development, fascinating new discoveries were made through observation and experimentation, and as a result, the revolutionary realm of science emerged to become a timeless, universally systematic phenomenon of practiced knowledge. Thus, it was during the beginning of this scientific era, when individuals like Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwin incorporated the theory of evolution as an understanding of progressive change and development of different species over time. And so, this fresh, scientific phenomenon allowed great thinkers examine how the notion of evolution has an influence on society from a philosophical standpoint. Although they express differing perspectives on the subject, Gilman, Veblen, and Freud ultimately illuminate how evolution is denoted by the development of instincts and affected by how they are either suppressed or acted upon to attain happiness.

The acronym DNA in the science world is well known. Many would even be able to say what it stands for: “Deoxyribonucleic Acid”. What is not as well known is who discovered DNA and what went on behind the scenes.

Many of the world’s well known and famous biologists and scientists have come from all over Europe in both the past and the present. Many of the pioneers in learning to study and understand the physical world from a scientific point of view have come from Europe. Modern scientific works can still be attributed to these researchers because their work will always be significant and applied even in the modern world. Distinctively, most of these scientists have come from England than the rest of the Europe. Charles Darwin, Joseph Lister, Francis Crick among numerous others have all come from England, although there are still many others who have come from elsewhere such as Louis Pasteur who is from France and Gregor Mendel, from the Czech Republic. However in this paper, just a few out of the abundant selections of biologists from Europe will be discussed and compared. Their cultures, identities, and education have all influenced a different array of discoveries and successes that have opened the door for scientists today to follow in their footsteps and add on to their theories.