1. Select one of the five individuals listed above who you would argue had the most influence over Darwin’s development of his theory of Natural selection. This could be a positive or a negative influence.
Thomas Mathus and his book Essay on the Principle of Population
2. Briefly (but completely) describe the contribution this individual made to the scientific community.
Thomas Malthus was interested in everything related to populations. He highlighted the interrelation of food supply and population in that food production increases arithmetically while population growth occurs naturally and at a faster rate. It is because of these things that poverty and famine were inevitable unless the population growth was controlled (such as birth control). He contended that there simply was not enough energy to maintain new births and creation.
He also contended that overpopulation was being battled naturally and historically through war and disease.
Source links: http://www.allaboutscience.org/malthus-faq.htm and http://www.uwmc.uwc.edu/geography/demotrans/malbox.htm
3. Identify the point (or points) most directly affected by this individual’s work and thoroughly explain how this point was influenced by your selected individual.
There are a couple of points actually.
• Nature has the potential of reproducing at rapid rates
• Population growth only occurs as much as current resources allow and
• There are limited resources on the planet
4. Could Darwin have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of this individual?
Not in my opinion. He took an already existing theory and merely elaborated on it more than Malthus was either capable of or wanted to (given Malthus still attributed everything "divine institution".) Without ever having learned about the potential struggle for existence and the rapid pace of population in conjunction to available resources, he would not have had the foundation for Natural Selection.
5. How did the attitude of the church affect Darwin and his eventual publication of his book On the Origin of Species?
At that time, the Church held massive power and Darwin was actually training to be an Anglican priest. At one point he described his fascination with nature as having been associated with his strong faith in God.
The attitudes of the Church or those that disputed the teachings of the church made him doubt his own science and delayed the publication of Origin in order to stay in good social standing.
Genesis,
ReplyDeleteYour answers were very well-thought-out and thorough. I also picked Thomas Malthus as the most influential, for many of the same reasons you did. You explain his theory of limited resources acting as a check for population growth (and thus naturally producing famine and poverty) very well. However, for number 3, I became slightly confused by the end of the paragraph whether or not you were addressing the tendencies of humans or of animals, since poverty is not something that can necessarily be applied to animals. It would be helpful to clarify which principles were Malthus' and which were Darwin's. Overall, great job!
--Yvonne
I actually confused the question 3 so all of my points are in reference to Malthus instead of Darwin. I need to make a correction there an other places. Thanks for the feedback!
DeleteGood background on Malthus's work. Careful about your sources, however. The "All About Science" site is actually a creationist website and is listed under the "Bad resources" page on the class in Blackboard.
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of your bullet points, but remember that these are bullet points from Darwin's work. Can you make a direct connection between Malthus's work and how it influenced Darwin with regard to those points? How did Darwin use Malthus' information to advance his own work? What is the connection?"
Malthus is one of those few contemporaries of Darwin that I feel might have been crucial for his work (Lyell is the other). Darwin himself mentions in his papers just how important Malthus was as a key to focusing his ideas:
"In October 1838, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on, from long-continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The result would be the formation of a new species."
Direct credit! Malthus was a keystone for Darwin.
Darwin was studying to become a priest very early in his life but ended up being a naturalist instead. By the time he went on the voyage on the Beagle, he had left any thought of the priesthood far behind him. There is also a lot of debate about Darwin becoming an atheist or an agnostic later in his life. First of all, his own science did not cause him to lose faith. In fact, he saw his work as better explaining the magnificence of the Creator's hand:
"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone circling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.”
Darwin did question his faith after the death of his daughter, Annie, but it is entirely speculation to suggest he was irreligious by the end of his life. (Some of your information may be coming from the creationist site?)
The question about the influence of the church addresses the 20+ year delay in publishing his work. Why did he delay?
OH no! LOL! I didn't even notice the bad resources list. Duh!
ReplyDeleteI actually ran across that quote from the UC Berkley website and meant to post it on the blog to prove my point. I don't know why I didn't. I actually just referenced it on Veronica's blog post (ironically).
Genesis Moss,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post about Thomas Mathus and his influences on Charles Darwin. It was informative yet straight to the point. I feel as though I know more about Mathus after reading your post. I also agree with you that Darwin wouldn’t be able to develop his theory without the help of Mathus and his findings.
Thanks,
Carly Bagingito
I corrected #3 By the way! :)
ReplyDelete