Darwin's Evolution Theory
I believe that Charles Lyell had one of the biggest influences on Darwin's theory of Natural selection. A huge contribution that Lyell made to the science community is that he was the modern founder of geology. He also wrote the book Principles of Geology, which argued the idea of uniformitarianism. Uniformitarianism is a geological principle that states that the Earth has been shaped by roughly the same forces seen today (PBS). It considers that these geological processes are unaltered from the those of the past. The slogan they use for uniformitarianism is "the present is the key to the past" (PBS). This work formed the foundation that Earth could be billions of years old.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/4/l_024_01.html
The work of Charles Lyell helped Darwin's theory of natural selection. The bullet point "Individuals do not evolve. Populations do" has been influenced by Lyell because Darwin's concept of slow and gradual evolution was formed with the help of Lyell's work on old-earth theories. This bullet point states that evolution does not occur within a generation but between a generation meaning it takes time for evolution to occur. Lyell's old-earth theories gave Darwin's gradual evolution theory an adequate period of time, because Lyell's theory of the Earth being extremely old supports Darwin's theory of life taking many years to change.
Amazing job Mackenzie on choosing Charles Lyell. The part that was really interesting is how Charles was a mentor to Darwin by giving him his information and thoughts. The old earth theory allowed Darwin to add even more research to his evolution theory. I wrote about Malthus and even his work provided a guidleline that Darwin used and refined.
ReplyDeleteHi Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I agree that Darwin would not have come to the same conclusion on his own. I stated in my post it takes a village when discovering our amazing world and reading your post furthers that idea. I wonder what his theory would like if Lyell did not present the idea of the earth being billions of years old.
Hi Mackenzie,
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I appreciate that your post is thorough and to the point. It’s easy to read and you provide great sources. Good job!
Charles Lyell seems to be a great influence on Darwin. I chose to write my post on Thomas Malthus and I had overlooked Lyell as an influencer, but now that I have read a bit more about him, he seems to be a key player in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. The idea of gradual evolution seems like it was very important to Darwin’s work because it’s not like Darwin could witness evolution in his lifetime – Lyell’s theories helped him to understand that it is a slow and gradual process.
I also don’t believe Darwin could have developed his theory without Lyell either. You make a good point about him supporting the theory of gradual evolution. Even after reading a few other peers’ posts, it’s hard to just choose one person who influenced Darwin the most, but after reading more about Lyell, I am beginning to sway my opinion.
I’m finding it hard to find anything to criticize about your post – perhaps you could have elaborated more on exactly how the attitude of the church affected his decision to delay publishing his book.
Great post!
Good description of Lyell's work and good source.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand what you are trying to argue in the section on bullet points, the point you raise can be better attributed to Lamarck (a fellow naturalist), not a geologist who was opposed to the concept of biological evolution. The point that can best be attributed to Lyell is the first one on the environment. A much better suggestion is your final point about Lyell's contribution of the concept of "deep time". That is a great observation.
"Without the concept of the Earth being possibly a billion years old it would be harder to understand."
Okay, but it isn't an issue of "understanding". It is an issue of the mechanism of natural selection working in the first place. That said, I agree with your overall point.
"...he knew that this theory would not be accepted in the church..."
Darwin wouldn't be presenting this to the church. He would be presenting this to the scientific community. So why would this be an issue?
"...would cause threats to his friends and family"
Now that is more likely to be the cause of his delay, but can we expand on this? What were Darwin's concerns? And was he only worried about himself or was he also worried about how his family might be impacted by publishing? Remember that his wife was very devout. How might she have been impacted if the church responded negatively to Darwin? Could her position in society and within the church have been threatened? Could his children have face repercussion due to loss of status? And could Darwin himself have faced social and professional negative repercussions? Remember that scientists don't work in a vacuum. They can be influenced not just by academics but also by social, cultural and personal issues.