Intro

Question 1

Order of people and dates

Answer 1

Empedocles: 490-430BC
Aristotle: 384-322BC
John Ray: 1627-1705AD
William Paley: 1743-1805AD
Charles Darwin: 1809-1882AD

Question 2

Empedocles key points

Answer 2

From Sicily
The first person to think about evolution
Believed that souls could be reincarnated between animals, plants, and humans
Resulted in grotesque forms- some were fit, some were unfit
But doesn’t explain why unfit

Question 3

Aristotle key points

Answer 3

First experimental evidence
Broke chicken eggs at various points to see organ development
Mainly descriptive work though, eg. ‘History of animals’ and ‘Parts of animals’

Question 4

John Ray key points

Answer 4

English naturalist: botany, zoology, natural theology
Classified plants according to similarities and differences and coined the term ‘species’
Suggested fit between organism and environment, eg. snow and snow hare
Thought god created nature for man’s enjoyment

Question 5

William Paley

Answer 5

Watchmaker analogy

Must be a designer as such a good fit between animal and environment

Question 6

Charles Darwin

Answer 6

Not the first to think about evolution
Talks a lot about common descent- group of organisms has most recent common ancestor
Lots of problems we still look at today- sexual selection results in maladaptive traits, sterility in eusocial insects can’t be passed on