Darwin and Darwinism
Darwin, despite being well known for his theory of evolution, was not the first one to have taken a step in this direction. It is also well known now that he was not the first naturalist to have proposed the concept of evolution or that species change over time. Before Darwin, Buffon and other naturalists had started introducing ideas related to evolution. However, it was Lamarck who took the first major step in this direction and made a systematic presentation of evolution in 1809. Lamarck is therefore sometimes said to be the forerunner of Darwin.Lamarck’s and Darwin’s theories are considered to be the earliest in history and all the theories that followed are said to be based or to have derived from these two fundamental theories. However wrong Lamarck may believed to be, still his theory is important as it attempts to account for transformation. Therefore, the Lamarckian theory has to be taken seriously and contrasted with the Darwinian theory.The first remarkable difference between the two theories is that Darwin’s theory was a theory of evolution by natural selection , whereas the Lamarck’s theory was based on the “inheritance of acquired characteristics”. However, Lamarck could not present any strong scientific evidence to prove his theory and therefore, it was discarded scientifically.It was Charles Darwin who gave the next significant idea in this field. Lamarck in 1809, gave the theory that the characteristics that a species acquires during its life time can be passed to the next generation. However, it was nearly fifty years later that Darwin brought a significant change with the publication of his theory of evolution. Darwin’s theory of natural selection proved to be a pivotal link in the history of biological evolution. However, there was a missing link in Darwin’s theory and it was the mechanism of inheritance and also he did not give any explanation on the generation of new species. Lamarck’s theory states that environmental changes give rise to new needs which further determines the use or disuse of some organs. Such organs depending on the need develop or diminish and also that the acquired characteristics are hereditary.The voyage of the Beagle was especially important for Darwin. It was a five-year long expedition to South America and the South Pacific. During the voyage Darwin read a book written by Charles Lyell titled Principles of Geology. It was due to this book that Darwin’s interest in the study of land forms rose up. Besides Geology ,Darwin’s theory was also influenced by other allied disciplines. Lyell’s theory of Uniformitarianism had greatly impressed Darwin and along the Beagle voyage, he examined fossils with Lyell’s theory in mind. As Darwin himself mentions in his memoir, about the publication of an abstract of the notes taken onboard the Beagle “ Sir C. Lyell and Dr. Hooker, who both knew of my work –the latter having read the sketch of 1844- honored me by thinking it advisable to publish, with Mr Wallace’s excellent memoir, some brief extracts from my manuscripts.” (Darwin, p. 02) Darwin wrote several notes during the voyage which were later praised by the scientific community on his return to England. Thus, we can see that Beagle voyage proved remarkable due to multiple reasons and the most because it served as a background on which the fundamental ideas formed that later evolved into his famous theory.Darwin’s theory received support from that of Alfred Wallace. As Jacob Bronowski notes’ “ The theory of natural selection was put forward in the 1850s independently by two men. One was Charles Darwin; the other was Alfred Russel Wallace. ” ( Bronowski, p. 219)Besides Charles Lyell and Alfred Wallace, Darwin was also influenced by few other people and their innovations , which gave a new dimension to the thoughts of Darwin . The most notable among them was Thomas Malthus, who was not a scientist but an economist. Darwin was fascinated by his idea especially the one regarding human population and that it was growing faster than food production to sustain. Malthus’s ideas supported the studies done by Darwin. It is said that Darwin came up with the idea of the survival of the fittest after applying Malthus’ ideas.Darwin’s and Wallace’s ideas are considered as the extension of the theory of Uniformitarian . which is one of the most important concepts in Geosciences developed in 18th century by James Hutton and further popularized by Charles Lyell . According to these ideas , catastrophic processes had nothing to do with the landforms left on the surface. These ideas had originated with a Scottish geologist, James Hutton in 1785, who argued that Earth had a long history but it could also be observed and interpreted in the terms of current processes. His ideas did not get much support until Sir Charles Lyell presented evidence which would prove Hutton’s ideas and reject the theory of catastrophism. The theory of evolution is mainly based on the idea that the diversity found on Earth in its species can be explained by the uniform modification of genetic traits over time. Due to this the theory of evolution is also considered an extension of Uniformitarianism .However, the theory propounded by Darwin got several criticism on the ground that the theory of heredity is not viable. The next point of criticism was the age of the Earth, which according to Lord Kelvin was only approximately a hundred million years old , but the processes which Darwin had envisioned were quite slow and therefore the time was insufficient for the process to have happened. However, this problem got solved later in the late nineteenth century with the discovery of radioactivity. The most difficult or rather problematic fact with Darwin’s theory was that Darwin had no direct proof which could explain evolutionary processes that had taken place over very long periods of time, and had not been detected easily in fossil records. Finally, the first proof in this direction was provided in the 1920s in peppered moth which showed a rapid shift in allele frequencies due to strong selection pressure. Soon other examples also followed which genetically explained the Darwin’s theory.Significant criticism of Darwin’s theory has also come from religious sources. Darwin’s theory clashed with religious and philosophical views. The debate between evolutionism and creationism had started with the publishing of Darwin’s “Origin of Species”. Michael Behe – an American Biochemist and Author of several books , in response to Darwin’s theory has said that the cell was a black box to Darwin and its inner workings a mystery. There are a number of similarities between YEC ( Young Earth creationism) and ID ( Intelligent Design), however a significant distinction between them is that YEC does not attempt to identify the intelligent cause responsible for the design in nature. Dawkins, in his book, The Blind Watchmaker, raises a criticism by what he calls the fallacy of “the argument from personal incredulity”. To quote Dawkins-Never say, and never take seriously anybody who says, “I cannot believe that so-and-so could have evolved by gradual selection.”Despite all the debates, Darwin’s theory was revolutionary in itself as was proved in subsequent years. Before his theory, the species were not linked into a single family tree. His theory changed the course of society and science in a revolutionary way.References:
Honeywill, R. (2008). Lamarck’s Evolution: Two Centuries of Genius and Jealousy. New South Wales, Australia: Murdoch Books. Retrieved April 6, 2013
Darwin, C. (1866). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London: John Murray. Retrieved April 4, 2013
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. (n.d.). In Bioweb. Retrieved April 5, 2013, from HYPERLINK “http://bioweb.cs.earlham.edu/9-12/evolution/HTML/theory.htm”http://bioweb.cs.earlham.edu/9-12/evolution/HTML/theory.htm
HYPERLINK “http://www.allaboutcreation.org/catastrophism-versus-uniformitarianism-faq.htm”http://www.allaboutcreation.org/catastrophism-versus-uniformitarianism-faq.htm
Bronowski, J. (2011). The Ascent Of Man (pp. 219-222). New York: Random House. Retrieved April 5, 2013HYPERLINK “http://faculty.education.illinois.edu/g-cziko/twd/pdf/twd08.pdf”http://faculty.education.illinois.edu/g-cziko/twd/pdf/twd08.pdf
Bedsole, J. (n.d.). The Blind Watchmaker. In Roadrunner. Retrieved April 1, 2013, from http://home.roadrunner.com/~bedsole/personal/rantz/Watchmaker.html
