Good, Bad, & Ugly Ideas Before Darwin
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24 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 classicism | a philosophical movement that stressed order, balance, simplicity, sought that which is universally true, beautiful and good. - classic school emphasized final, static perfection in organisms -(aristotle & followers) |
| 2 important ideas from classicism | - Fixity of Species - Scala Natura |
| Fixity of species | Each species remains unchanged indefinitely after its creation species are: - discrete - invariable - fixed Aristotle: essentialism or typological thinking (theory of types) - Eidos - "universal" or "type". ie any variation was unimportant because it did not affect the type. species reflect existence of ideal unchanging form |
| Scala Naturae | - all creatures arranged on a fixed, unchanging, linear heirarchy of nature from lowest to highest, w/ homo sapiens at the top - aka chain of being, scale of being, or ladder of perfection - recent iconography represents this idea as the "march of progress", the current thinking that evolution is synonymous with progress |
| Scala Naturae vs. Darwin | 1. darwin envisioned that descent w/ modification would result in branching evolutionary patterns 2. distinguishing among higher or lower forms of life or degrees of perfection was not part of darwin's theory |
| National Schools of Thought | - in early 1800's a number of schools of thought about biodiversity existed 1. Environmentalist school --- France 2. Natural Theology -- England 3. Naturalphilosophie -- Germany |
| Environmentalist School | - not limited to france but flourished here - adaptation was a focus of it and various mechanisms were proposed. - stressed environmental determinism, i.i environmental determination of traits +climate was considered a major factor of environment georges buffon noted that animals were suited to environments (viewed them to be products of their climates) |
| Preadaptive mutations and postadaptive mutations | Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire (Fr., 1772-1844) - all adaptations directly induced by environment and passed on to offspring - clever replica plating experiments of Lederberg and Lederberg (1952) showed that mutations are preadaptive |
| preadaptive mutations | - occur randomly and spontaneously before exposure to the environment in which they are adaptive, and they are fortuitously adaptive |
| postadaptive mutations | occur non-randomly after exposure to the environment to which they are adaptive, i.e. they arise in response to environmental pressure |
| Natural Theology | English school of thought - emphasized purposeful design in nature - teleology - Thomas Aquinas - William Paley |
| teleology | structure determined by functional results - explanation of phenomena/processes by purposes (goals, ends) they serve - purposeful determination by future goals (ie, things evolved for a purpose) |
| Thomas Aquinas | formalized process of "Argument from design" - holds that the complex & intricate construction of all living orgs and their adaptations are too precise and perfect to have originated through chance and necessity - thus, design in nature is evidence of benevolence, omnipotence, and existence of god as creator of the existing order |
| Rev. William Paley | (1743-1805) - Wrote Natural Thelogy, or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity in 1802 - long argument to demonstrate the creator is a logical necessity - today is leading exposition in the "argument from design", which is an alternative to evolution and the first and last resort of anti-evolutionists (watch & watchmaker metaphor) - many examples paley used for arguments were used by darwin b/c they are cases of remarkable adaptation |
| Naturalphilosophie | "Bauplan" (archetype) - common, fundamental structural plan of life seen in diff groups of organisms, e.g. skeleton of vertebrats built on similar plan - central concept, emphasizing the "unity of Creation" w/ little emphasis on adaptations of individual species - looking for commonality in different species/organisms; variation within species de-emphasized |
| 3 major issues about geological change | 1. age of earth 2. reality of fossils 3. possibility of species extinction |
| 2 major ideas to which major issues were associated | 1. catastrophism 2. uniformitarianism |
| catastrophism | - related to arguments over age of earth - current rates of geological change were rejected as having existed throughout all time - allowed argument that earth is young, not old - earth's features postulated to have resulted from extensive, rapid, violent changes, interspersed w/ long periods of little change - there were different geological processes at different times (different rates of change) |
| Georges Cuvier | (Fr., 1769-1832) - paleontologist and forceful proponent of catastrophism - no belief in evolution - did believe in reality of fossils & possibility of extinction - published list of 23 extinct species and challenged the idea that they would be found alive once all of the earth was explored - his own theory of the earth's history had to acct for both the existence of fossils and occurrence of extinction -->Progressionism |
| progressionism | cuvier - theory of successively better creations - deity refined the work every catastrophe |
| uniformitarianism | -counter to catastrophism, and "mosaic geology" (the acct of Creation in Genesis) - rates of geological change are constant (not something we believe today) - theory holds that earth is old -James Hutton, charles lyell |
| James Hutton | Scottish, 1726-1797 - founder of uniformitarianism - observations of stream erosion convinced him of slow geological processes, requiring a very old earth to complete them as processes occurred at same rates in past as in present day |
| Charles Lyell | Scottish, 1797-1875 - Principles of Geology: had major influence on Darwin - responsible for change from catastrophism to uniformitarianism Arguments: - natural laws do not vary through time - the same forces/processes we see today were shaping earth in the past - thus, present day events are a key to the past - rates of geological process did not vary w/ time |
| Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation | - written by Robert Chambers (anonymously in 1844) - included theory of origin, subsequent evolution of life on earth - read carefully by darwin, who had formulated his theory of transmutation about 1838 - D found logic confused and evidence inadequate - book drew strong vigorous criticism, perhaps decreasing some later anti-darwinian attacks. may have caused D to wait more than ten years to publish - |
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