UNIT 2 DAY 2 - BIOLOGY BEFORE DARWIN

Question 1

Induction

Answer 1

• Bacon developed idea
• induction: detailed observations taken to reach a conclusion

Question 2

Deduction

Answer 2

• Aristotle used this method
• deduction: making a conclusion based on widely accepted facts (premises)
• advantage: gives a conclusion if facts are correct
• disadvantage: no evidence to back up if facts are correct

Question 3

Fundamental laws

Answer 3

• laws that can explain many seemingly unrelated things of nature
• more the law can explain, the greater value and more likely to be true

Question 4

H-D method

Answer 4

• hypothetical-deductive method: combines induction and deduction in a repeated cycle of steps to get the advantages out of both
• look at diagram

Question 5

Grand Facts of Biology, as the Young Darwin Learned Them

Answer 5

• Issac Newton (Herschel Models these ideas about laws)
• his laws of motion and gravity explained a wide array of observations
• Herschel wrote that it was a scientists job to discover these laws inspiring Darwin on his voyage on the Beagle

Question 6

Baconian induction

Answer 6

• naturalists discerned several major patterns in how living things are organsied

Question 7

GRAND FACT #1

Answer 7

• species are real and immutable
• animals come in discrete types, recognisable by a particular constellation of characters

Question 8

GRAND FACT #2

Answer 8

• species can be ordered into natural groups, revealing God’s rational plan

Question 9

GRAND FACT #3

Answer 9

• organisms fit their environment
• members of each species are equipped with exactly the features they need in order to survive, revealing God’s power and goodwill

Question 10

Essences

Answer 10

characters that make up an organism

Question 11

Essential Thinking

Answer 11

• species have no history and never change
• although naturalists prior to Darwin were perfectly aware that individuals within a species can vary, they considered this variation meaningless compared to gulf that separates species

Question 12

How Darwin’s mentors defined a species

Answer 12

• mentors believed that different species were created separately by god and merely varieties is they had arisen from a single creation and then diverged in different environments

Question 13

Pre-Darwinian View of Transmutation

Answer 13

• alternative view of nature considered dangerous/radical
• darwin wasn’t a transmutationist
• Henslow and Sedgwick opposed transmutation too

Question 14

Transmutation

Answer 14

• species can change from one to another as a result of altered external conditions

Question 15

Discovering evolution in the Galapagos

Answer 15

• island formed from recently volcanic eruptions
• Darwin collected as many information about each specimen
• noticed that species found on one island could replicate those found together

Question 16

centres of creation

Answer 16

• sites where species first appeared by acts of creation

Question 17

orthodox creationist views

Answer 17

• idea of god being the creator of species
• darwin held these views for a long time –> LEAD DARWIN TO NEARLY MISS KEY OBSERVATIONS ON ISLANDS

Question 18

Mistakes Darwin made on Galapagos Islands?

Answer 18

1. didn’t see that each bird was different on each island
2. didn’t label finches by islands
3. misidentified some birds
4. didn’t collect adult tortoises

Question 19

Societal expectations that affected Darwin

Answer 19

• time period –> spread of knowledge
• religion and science as one –> believed this elite family didn’t have to work and went to a good school

Question 20

Darwin first considering the idea of transmutation/evolution

Answer 20

• reviewing notes and specimens on way back to england (mainly mockingbirds) –> initially he dismisses idea of one bird coming from mainland and then changing into many different yet similar birds

Question 21

Abolitionists

Answer 21

all people are equal, against slavery