3. Chapter 2: Evolutionary Thinking Before Darwin Flashcards
Who are the most profound philosophers during the period of transformisme in Antiquity?
- Anaximander
- Empedocles
- Democritus
Who are the most most profound philosophers during the period of classical thinkers?
- Socrates
2. Aristotle
What concept is associated with Anaximander?
Anaximander is the first philosopher to write his thoughts (it is believed his idea has been expressed orally before). He believed humans originated from fishes that attempted to invade the mainland and that water is the central element of this universe. He mixed up origin and growth.
What concept is associated with Empedocles?
Empedocles believed that all structures of the world (matter) are made of four elements: earth, water, air and fire which are simple, eternal and unalterable. He believed that there are two major forces that interact constantly on these elements; the force of love as attraction or harmony and the force of strife or hate known as repulsion or discord.
What concept is associated with Democritus?
Democritus was the most scientific of the Greek philosophers who believed in two realities atoms and emptiness. Matter is a group of atoms in movement and that an atom cannot be created nor destroyed, beginning of atomic theory. He believed there is an intrinsic property, a force of atoms that creates shapes. His thought on evolution was that humans and animals are born directly from dirt that beings were just a spontaneous generation.
What concept is associated with Socrates?
Socrates is associated with the theories of ideal forms which is the concept of essentialism stating that the visible, imperfect and changing realm which surrounds us is a poor imitation of an ideal world (that we are born within ourself unconsciously knowing the ideal form of perfect/permanent) and that gods are the creative force. The variation of forms is not important because it only detracts us from only the quest to define the ideal form which is important. This philosophy will have a lasting impact on our perception of nature.
What concept is associated with Aristotle?
Aristotle did not believe in the innate world of ideal forms but believed in hierarchy in nature. He believed it was important to describe the essence of living beings which could be observed in nature. He created the scale naturae where species are depicted in a static and unchangeable hierarchy concluding that morphological variability is illusion and imperfection. Aristotle was a vitalist and perceived multiple levels of souls with cumulative effects. This philosophy had an effect on natural science.
What is the difference between Plato and Aristotle?
They both had different concepts of the theory of forms(essentialism). Plato believed that there is a world of Ideas or Forms that is totally separate from the material world. That every living being we observe with our senses is just a poor imitation of its perfect representation in the world of Forms and that the world of forms is innate. While Aristotle did not believe in the innate world of ideal forms believing instead that there is no need to postulate the hypothetical existence of an innate world of Ideas or Forms. That we can determine the essence of things by carefully examining the world around us.
What is the conclusion of the Greek philosophers of the antiquity?
- Acts of creation are not due to gods, but rather due to the innovative power of matter.
- The origin of all things is not teleological (with an ultimate goal), but is the result of a random process or of an irrational need.
What were the Aristotle’s perceived levels of souls?
- Vegetal: plants
- Animate: animals
- Rational: humanity
What were the different evolutionary thinking periods leading up to Darwin?
- Transformism in the Antiquity Period
- Classical Period
- Christianity
- 1700s to late 1800s
What was Linnaeus associated with?
Linnaeus was the father of taxonomy, impacting natural science. Linnaeus did not believe in evolution nor did Linnaeus care about variability Linnaeus only wanted to know the essence of things. Linnaeus believed in creation of species and wanted to define how God created the world which Linnaeus accomplished through hierarchical classification and the binomial system of nomenclature. Linnaeus’ goal was to discover the plan of creation by trying to make order of every species to get closer to god’s puzzle, which is an excellent application of the essentialism of Aristotle. Linnaeus ideas remain valid today.
What was associated with Buffon?
Buffon wrote «Histoire Naturelle» which described nature and species. Buffon wrote that«every family, from animals to plants, has a common origin, all animals derive from one animal, which through time produced all animal species in existence». Buffon pushed the idea that species kept changing and were changing through time. Buffon‘ should theory established the earth to be around 75,000 years old with the initial temperature of the earth quite high mellowing out ever since. Buffon’s ideas were rejected and censored by the faculty of theology of the sorbonne because of conflicts with religious views which is when Buffon decided to abandon evolutionary ideas and solely focus on observing nature.
What concept was associated with Lamarck?
Lamarck was the first«evolutionist» believing species modifying their morphology through time. Lamarck believed to have change you need time. Lamarck uses the environment as a factor of change also known as environmental determinism. Lamarck believed in two principles of evolution which affect the individual.
1. Principle of usage and non usage: if you do not use an organ much it will become unfunctional
2. Principle of inheritance of acquired characteristics: the gradual mechanism, adaptive, and involves an innate ability/internal force of an organism to become more complex.
This is where spontaneous generations can explain the presence of simple organisms. Lamarck’s theory was also not well received because it contradicted the religious view of the creation of life.
Examples that confirm that Lamarck’s principles are false are:
1. Federer’s kids dont have his tennis skills nor do they have a more muscular arm
2. The seed of a bonsai tree will always produce a regular tree
What individuals do has nothing to do with the other generation(offspring). The problem with Lamarck’s theory is ACQUIRED TRAITS.
What concept was associated with Cuvier
Cuvier was interested in mammal fossils and established the fundamental concepts of palaeontology where Cuvier observed that the older stratum the more dissimilar its fossils were to current species. Cuvier also observed younger stratum have more recent fossils that are simple and older stratum with older fossils that are more complex. Cuvier defined the theory of correlation of parts. Cuvier believed the fixity of species and catastrophism modifying the unifying concept of the Great Chain of Beings by suggesting that God created four major types of animals which are the radiata, mollusca, articulata, and vertebrata, which is how Cuvier was able to define a bit of order in nature. An example of Cuvier’s theory is that there are certain distinctions between the jaws of a herbivore and carnivore. Omnivores are still categorized into herbivores and carnivores in terms of their jaws but identified as omnivores because somewhere along their ancestry their diet diversified like bears and humans.
