History of Evolution

Abstract

Evolution is a change in the characteristics of a population from generation to generation. Evolution occurs via natural selection which creates competition between organisms to survive. Although, people have been thinking about evolution for years, Charles Darwin is often referred to as the father of evolution. The theory of evolution is also a topic of great debate because some parts of the theory contradict people’s religious beliefs.

Introduction

Since Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, the topic of evolution has been up for debate for quite sometime now. Do species go extinct? Do humans and primates share a common ancestor? Do traits acquired over the life time of an organism, pass down to the offspring? Should evolution be taught in the classroom? These are all questions that have been asked pertaining to evolution. Evolution is a racy topic because it pits the field of science against people fundament religious beliefs.

Ideas before Darwin

Biological evolution can be defined as a change in the form or the behavior of an organism between generations. Although, the concept of biological evolution has been around for quite some time, it’s roots can be traced back to the times of ancient Greek and Roman empires with the great philosopher Aristotle. Aristotle came up with the idea which he called, “The Great Chain of Being.” In his view Aristotle believed the world to be a perfect universe, in which species could never evolve and must remain fixed. Aristotle came up with the idea which he called, “The Great Chain of Being,” which was his attempt to make sense of the changing relationships among living beings. In this view Aristotle believed the world to be a perfect universe, in which species could never evolve and must remain fixed. There was an order to beings or ladder, with species such as worms on the bottom and human beings at the top of the ladder. Aristotle was also well-known of his work in the field of biology where he was able to classify more than five hundred types of species. Among the work of Aristotle is a writing that foreshadows the idea of natural selection, he states,”Wheresover, therefore…all part of one whole happened like propriately constituted by an internal spontaneity; and wheresover things were not thus constituted they perished, and still perish” (Avery, 2003). Also at this time religion played a major role in peoples lives and applied the religious beliefs to all aspects of their lives. The Judeo-Christian culture believed that the Earth was only about 6,000 years old, an idea that could be traced back to biblical documents. Although, many people believe that the idea of evolution goes against their personal religious beliefs many naturalists and philosophers still struggle to understand the concept of evolution.

The next idea in the theory of evolution came from Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Lamarck wrote Zoological Philosophy, in which he stated that lineages of species persist indefinitely, changing from one species to another. Lamarck came up with two mechanisms for his theory of evolution which are “Internal Force” and “Inheritance of acquired characters”. In his “Internal Force” mechanism he states that there is that some unknown mechanism