Evolution Before Darwin - MT3 - Part 1 Flashcards
What is evolution?
It is heritable change in a population of species over generational time and the divergence of lineages from a common source
- common ancestor
What is science?
It is a bunch of processes that require persuasion
What does evolution involve? (3)
- It is more than just elimination of invariable forms
- genetic inheritance –> advantage vs disadvantage –> creative aspect of evolution - Change is open ended
- Species are related by descent
What does essentialism imply?
Fixed species characteristics
- everything is created by a divine will
What does everyday experience show us?
Generational continuity
- not radical discontinuity
What can lead us to the rejection of all science? (2)
- Literal interpretation of religious texts
2. Belief in supernatural causations in this world
What was natural theology?
It was a new term for the teleological interpretation of organismal function
- which goes back to ancient times
Who was the most important figure in England?
William Paley
- author of Natural Theology (1802)
What did Cuvier think fossils showed?
An abrupt change, rather than a gradual change in life
- the intermediate that he thought he should see he didnt
- he said extinct and a new origin of life was jerky process, not smooth
What is the plenitude principle? (3)
- All species that can exist, do exist
- Creation was fully stocked from the beginning
- Gaps in creation cannot exist
What did may people fear about evolutionary thinking?
That it would cause moral and societal chaos, because it undercuts the credibility of the Bible as an infallible document and because it implies humans are mere animals that they might start beginning to act like them
What happened later in the 19th century and into the 20th century?
Natural selection justifies social darwinism
- accepted evolution
- human society had winners and loser (just like natural selection)
Social darwinism
The theory that individuals, groups and people are subject to the same darwinism laws of natural selection as plants and animals
What did some people believe we started out as?
Mushrooms
- then we were starfish, then giraffes and now we are humans
- this was not true = misunderstanding
What are most miss-understanding of our lineages come from?
Cladograms
What did some people believe about species?
That 2 species can come from a common ancestor and then it mixes those 2 species
- eg) crocodile + ducks = crocoduck
What can Linnaean hierarchies and natural groupings be viewed as?
Supporting evolution
- nesting hierarchies contain relationships
What did Cuvier not believe in?
Evolution
What is an example of similarity due to function?
Wings
- birds, fish, bats and butterflies
- different in structure but looks similar
Homology
The state of having the same of similar relation, relative position or structure
Analogy
A comparison between 2 things, typically for the purpose of explanation or clarification
The sequence of fossil in the stratigraphical column and the reality of extinction
Older forms into younger form
- periodic catastrophic or new forms come along
What is not accpeted today?
Spontaneous generation of organisms from amorphous beginnings, like nutrient broth
Why would we not need to invoke the creation of an unchanging world?
If small organisms such as bacteria and protozoa can arise by spontaneous generation and then evolve into more complex forms
What does the natural theory work against?
Evolution
What does natural theory imply? (2)
- A creator and a designer
- works against evolution - Focusses on adaption and function which stimulated the growth of evolutionary thinking
- focussed attention on function
What are 2 examples of vestigial and inefficient structures?
- Wisdom teeth
- Laryngeal nerve
- goes around the aorta
How did the idea of change over time penetrate into European consciousness in a wide array of fields? (4)
- The solar system formation and evolution
- A solar system of time
- exhaustion of the suns energy stores - Gradual geological changes over long periods of time
- Similarities among words in Sanskrit, Latin and Greek suggested they were descended from a common language, not extinct
- similar to a phylogenetic tree
Nebular hypothesis
The theory that the solar system were developed from a primeval nebula
