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Biology - Lecture 1 Study Questions: History of Evolutionary Theory

Terms in this set (19)

What is idealism? Who advocated for this idea? Was he an advocate for evolution?
-The practice of forming or pursuing ideals, especially unrealistically
-Plato advocated for this idea
-He was not an advocate for evolution because he believed that it was unnecessary and counterproductive in a world where real organisms are already perfect
What is the scala naturae? Who advocated this idea?
-aka "Ladder of Life" is a way to organize all things in the natural world, living and non-living
-Aristotle advocated for this idea
Who was the father of modern taxonomy? What is binomial nomenclature? What is natural theology?
-Carl von Linne (aka Carolus Linneaus)
-The system of nomenclature in which two terms are used to denote a species of living organism, the first one indicating the genus and the second the specific epithet.
-Attempts to reveal God's plan by studying nature.
Who was the father of modern paleontology?
Georges Cuvier
Who first documented the fact that extinction takes place? What was the evidence?
-Georges Cuvier
-He realized that old species disappeared and new ones appeared.
What is the theory of gradualism and who formulated it?
-James Hutton
-It is the theory that profound changes is the cumulative product of slow, continuous processes
Who was the first biologist to formulate a mechansim by which evolution could work?
Jean Baptiste Lamark
What are Lamark's two principles?
-Use and disuse. Those traits most used by organism get bigger and stronger, those not used are discarded.
-These traits can be passed on to offspring. Species change by the inheritance of acquired characters.
What is uniformitarianism and who advocated it? Why was this idea important to Darwin?
-the processes acting now can be used to explain events in the past
-Darwin was greatly influenced by the fact that slow and subtle processes occurring over great lengths of time can produce substantial changes. Most importantly, to produce these changes at this slow pace the world must be very old.
What idea did Darwin owe to Thomas Malthus?
Natural selection (I think)
What two people conceived of the idea of evolution by natural selection?
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
What is a fact? What is a hypothesis?
A fact is something proven through the process of the scientific theory. Hypotheses are made and tested. A hypothesis is a possible explanation to something that is currently unknown or unexplained.
What does the term "theory" mean to a scientist?
an overarching body of knowledge with great explanatory power
How is evolution both a fact and a theory?
It is a fact and theory because many observations and experiments have been done to prove how old the earth is and how it has changed throughout time
What are the essential ingredients of scientific inquiry?
1.) It has to be explanatory by reference to natural law
2.) It is testable against the empirical world
3.) Its conclusions are tentative (are not necessarily the final word
4.) It is falsifiable
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