Bio Anth, Topic 2: Historical Development of Evolutionary Theory
For this section, you should focus on contrasting the Darwinian worldview with that of the Natural Theologians. What are the historical roots of the ideas that are central for each school of thought?
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- Darwin's worldview says "if lineages diverge to give rise to multiple daughter species that look slightly different":
- then individuals with a population vary, and variation is heritable
- Darwin's worldview says "if organisms adapt to their environment as a result of 'natural selection'... then
- processes we observe today must have happened in the past, environmental change, competition for limited resources
- Darwin's worldview says "if this branching pattern explains the diversity of life"...then
- lots of time is required
- Darwin's worldview:
- the earth is old and in constant flux; the environment is constantly changing and populations adapt to the change.
- Challenges to Darwin's theory:
- special place of humans in nature, perfect fit of organisms to their environment, special creation, the fixity of species, age of earth
- Aristotle (4th c. BC) came up with the Great Chain of Being or ____?
- Scala Naturae
- Ptolomeic cosmology (1st and 2nd C.) asserts that
- Earth is the center of the universe
- Teleology is defined as...
- the apparent perfect "design" of organisms; making reference to purpose; goal-oriented
- Paley came up with ____ that utilized the ___ metaphor.
- natural theology, "watchmaker metaphor"- the world is in perfect harmony
- What is another term for the "immutability" of species
- fixity
- Plato was what kind of philosopher
- essentialist
- What is essentialism
- (plato) Belief that things have a set of unchanging characteristics that make them what they are; variation among things is unimportant as it deviation from "essence"....[think "essence" = essentialism]
- Essentialism up to the 1830s believed:
- 1. species are composed of similar individuals sharing same essence 2. species are separated from one another by well defined discontinuities 3. species are constant through time (fixed) 4. there are stringent limitations to the possible variation of any one species
- Archbishop Usher (1650) asserted that the Earth's genesis was in ____
- 4004 BC
- Who published Systema Naturae in 1735
- Carolus Linnaeus
- Carolus Linnaeus was the father of _____ and ___
- taxonomy, systematics
- Linnean hierarchy is ____, ____, ____, ____, ____,____, _____.
- Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
- In the Linnean hierarchy, which two classifications are italicized?
- the bottom two: genus and species
- What was carolus linnaeus belief (philosophy he ascribed to)
- a strict essentialist, believed in fixity of species
- Who developed the idea of a sun-centered solar system (1514)? And who later supported him (1600s)?
- Copernicus, Galileo
- Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) supported what idea?
- extinction
- Georges Cuvier recognized that different animals occur in different ____
- strata-layers of rock
- How did Georges Cuvier explain extinction
- Catastrophism- different floods wiped out creation, followed by newer, better creations
- Who coined the term "biology" (1744-1929)
- Jean-Baptiste Lamark
- Jean-Baptiste Lamark was one of the first to propose this hypothesis
- evolutionary
- Jean-Baptiste Lamark stated that "vital essences sense need through use, change the form and pass on to offsprings" in ___ _ ___ ___.
- Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
- The first serious theoretical attempt to explain evolution (as proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamark)
- Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
- Lamark's theory that ____ can be passed to offspring is demonstrated by giraffe necks over time becoming longer and longer
- acquired characteristics. giraffes use longer necks to reach food better
- Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was the first to express ideas of ___ and ___ of species
- transmutation, evolution
- Who is the father of modern Geology
- Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
- Charles Lyell proposed ____ stating that geological processes at work today (erosion, volcanism, uplift) were also at work in the past.
- Uniformitarianism- present today, so present in past
- This concept accounts for all geological changes recorded in Earth's rocks:
- Deep time
- One explanation for the changes that nineteenth century naturalists saw in the fossil record was that periodic natural disasters caused many species in an area to go extinct. This idea is called:
- Catastrophism
- Which of the following philosophical perspectives suggested that the world is created perfectly and with a purpose: A) essentialism B) vitalism C) teleology D) Scala Naturae
- Teleology
- Which of the following types of inheritance did Lamark argue was a mechanism for producing evolutionary change in organisms: A) recessive inheritance B) blending inheritance C) Genetic Inheritance D) inheritance of acquired traits
- D) inheritance of acquired traits
- According to Archbishop Usher, the earth is how old? a) 6000 b) 60,000 c) 4000 d) 4004
- D) 4004
- Linneaus system of class structure was called the Systema Naturae or known as:
- taxonomy (system of classification we use today)
- difference between catastrophism and uniformitarianism.
- uniformitarianism suggests that if its happening now it happened in past; catastrophism proposes that events in past led to better and newer creations.
- individuals producing more offspring than one with hopes that more will survive is called:
- superfecundity
- How are Lyell's ideas of uniformity related to natural selection?
- aspects of Earth surface (plants, animals, etc) vary throughout time, but the underlying processes that influence them are constant.