Historical Influences on Darwin
I believe that Thomas
Malthus was the most influential over Darwin’s development of his theory of
natural selection. Malthus studied the human growth population and put it
in his Essay on the Principle of Population where he became well known
as an economist in the late 18th Century. Thomas Malthus is
also recognized for creating a formula that could be used to project the growth
of the inhabitants. This blueprint is identified as the Malthusian growth
model. In the early 19th Century, Malthus was drawn to the work of
Charles Darwin on theory of natural selection. They both seemed to be impacted
by each other’s theories. Darwin agreed that there was some logic in Malthus
theory of why we aren’t up to our eyeballs in rabbits. Malthus argued that when
resources are running low the animals begin to fight for the limited supplies
that are available. Additionally, Malthus believed that when there is a
considerable amount of resources there were very few predators. It has
been noted that natural occurring variants make some siblings more fit than
others to successfully compete for survival, mature and multiply.
Thomas Malthus was
most known for An Essay on the Principle of Population as it affects
the Future Improvement of Society that he published in 1798. Ultimately, Malthus is best known for the impact he
had on Darwin's evolutionary theories. He offered several theories that
contradicted the optimistic societal theories of the point in time. His work
had been both criticized and applauded by many. However, his impact on theory
of natural selection was significant. His contribution was suggesting that the
entire population of both humans and animals are growing at a rapid pace. He
argued that the population was growing so fast that it would eventually outgrow
the ability to supply food for the population. Organisms have learned to
adapt to their natural environment through the genetic process of variants,
which has improved the organisms' ability to survive (Jurmain, Trevathan, Kilgore & Ciochon, 2017). Variation
is an effective form of biological selection that will take place over a long
duration of time. This method of evolution references that organisms maintain
to hold the strongest traits that allows them find food, breed, and live in
specific habitats. Thomas Malthus method states
organisms are better adapted to the environment they live in; he argues they
tend to outlive and produce more offspring living in their own area. The action
of this theory was first developed by Charles Darwin and today is now understood
to be essential in the process around evolution
The bullets related to Darwin's points regarding the access of resources were the ones that were mostly influenced by Thomas Malthus' theories. His theories
and concerns were regarding overpopulation and how it caused so many to die.
Studies have shown this was the key piece that help influence the theory of Natural Selection. Malthus stated the "survival of the
fittest" concept was not only for the natural world, but for the civilized
populations as well (Scoville, 2017). He also felt the lower classes were dying because of the lack of
resources presented to them, very much like the Theory of Evolution by Way of
Natural Selection that was proposed. Malthus also felt that Organisms would
grow so fast it would surpass their capability to generate resources and food. Within
his works he also stated that food is vital in the growth of population
anywhere on earth however if not addressed it would cause many to starve.
Malthus argued that there are positive and precautionary checks that could be
done to slow the population growth down and stop the population from rising at
a rapid pace for a long period of time but, poverty has become inevitable.
Once Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace read Malthus’ Essay on the Principle of Population they saw a lot of their work being
reflected in the human population. They
both commended Malthus on his great work. Darwin was able to develop
his theory however, he needed Thomas Malthus
to help shape his idea (Jurmain, Trevathan, Kilgore & Ciochon, 2017). Malthus was able to take Darwin’s theory and improve it by
taking his theory of Natural Selection to the next level. Malthus was able to take
Darwin’s ideas on how the population of the natural world had difficulties
trying to survive and took his idea and expanded it to a larger scale including civilized
population like humans. Darwin and Wallace contributed a large portion of credit to Malthus for
taking their ideas and shaping and bringing clarity to the Theory of Evolution
and Natural Selection.
From the instance that Darwin’s research stated that Homo Sapiens were another type of animal, many
citizens from the church opposed the idea. In the book of the Origin of Species not only was this one of the most influential books, but it had a huge
impact on philosophical, social and religious thought. It has been noted that
this book was one of the most valuable books that has ever been published. In
his first book he shows with a tree diagram how animals develop. The church was livid, and they felt his theory went
against what the Bible taught (Scoville, 2017). Later, he stopped engaging in disputes with the
church, but his friends continued dealing with the various attacks. Darwin did
not believe in God so he could care less what the clergy had to say thus he
refused to stop working on his theory of evolution, so they eventually
prosecuted him
References:
Scoville,
Heather. “Thomas Malthus.” ThoughtCo, 17 Mar. 2017, www.thoughtco.com/about-thomas-malthus-1224849.
Jurmain,
R., Kilgore, L., Trevathan, W. & Ciochon, R. (2017). Introduction to
Physical Anthropology: Thomson Learning, Inc.
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ReplyDeleteHey I also believe that Malthus influenced Darwin the most. He basically added on to his ideas and developed the theory. He could have got the theory developed by himself but it would have took longer. He would have probably came across the same ideas that Malthus came across as time passed but Malthus influenced him a lot to make his theory a success. Very interesting blog post!
ReplyDelete"In the early 19th Century, Malthus was drawn to the work of Charles Darwin on theory of natural selection."
ReplyDeleteNo! There is no evidence that Malthus even knew of Darwin. Moreover, Malthus was a cleric who was strongly opposed to the idea of evolution. He would have been absolutely horrified to know that his own work was so instrumental into the advancement of evolutionary theory.
"Malthus argued that when resources are running low the animals begin to fight for the limited supplies that are available. Additionally, Malthus believed that when there is a considerable amount of resources there were very few predators. "
No, you are attributing Darwin's thought process to Malthus. Malthus used natural populations as an example of how populations stay in "check", compared to human populations which seem to have the "check" removed. Malthus didn't observe or care about what happened to animals when resources were limited. His primary focus was on overpopulation in humans and how that would negatively impact them.
You start off well in the second paragraph, but again, you carry Malthus too far, wandering into Darwin's theory. Malthus had nothing to say about evolution. At all. Let me clarify:
Malthus was an economist who was also very concerned about the problems related to overpopulation. He understood that populations had the potential of growing exponentially, which resources tended to grow at a slower, arithmetic rate. He noticed that natural populations of animals never seemed to overpopulate their available resources. It was as if some natural force was limiting their population size. He then compared natural populations to human populations and recognized that humans seemed to be lacking this natural force (whatever it was) and as a result, humans seemed to outgrow their available resources. Malthus argued that unless humans self-regulated their reproduction (he was a huge proponent of birth control), other processes, such as famine, disease and war, would be the natural result, forcing us to cut our populations via mass death.
A real cheerful guy.
Now out of all that, what caught Darwin's attention was the reference to that natural force that limited natural populations, and it made Darwin ask what was limiting the reproduction of those organisms. Malthus' emphasis on resources gave him the key... it was competition for those resources that limited population numbers. The next question was whether the limited force was random or directed. The answer was that it was directed by the environment, with those organisms with the best "fit" in that environment competing best for those resources and having more reproductive success, passing on more of those successful genes. Conversely, those who were less fit would have few (or no) offspring, and the next generation would have more of the "good" genes and less of the "bad". That describes the process of natural selection.
In the next section, you were asked to select the bullet points in the guidelines that can be directly attributed to Malthus. I don't see where you do this. The two points that apply to Malthus' contribution to Darwin's work are (1) the potential of populations to grow exponentially and (2) resources are limited. These two points together creates competition for available resources, which is the driving force behind natural selection.
"Malthus stated the "survival of the fittest" concept was not only for the natural world, but for the civilized populations as well (Scoville, 2017)."
I just checked your source and that is attributed to Darwin and Wallace, not to Malthus.
Google limited my comment length, so I will finish it here:
Delete__________________________________________________
"Malthus was able to take Darwin’s theory and improve it by taking his theory of Natural Selection to the next level."
No. Again, Malthus had nothing to do with natural selection. Concerned that you came away from this assignment with this misconception.
"Darwin and Wallace contributed a large portion of credit to Malthus for taking their ideas and shaping and bringing clarity to the Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection."
That is true, and it is why I suspect Darwin may not have been able to develop his theory without Malthus. I usually don't like to grant any one scientist so much credit as to be indispensable to the work of another, but in the case of Malthus (and Lyell) I'm willing to do so. Even Darwin himself seems to indicate just how important Malthus was to his work in his writings:
"... it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The results of this would be the formation of a new species. Here, then I had at last got a theory by which to work".
Charles Darwin, from his autobiography. (1876)
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
The question in the final section asks about the influence of the church on Darwin's decision to publish, not about the church's response *after* he published. Until he published, no one but a few close friends knew about his theory. Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. The question is, why? And how did the influence of the church play a role in this delay? What were Darwin's concerns? And was he only worried about himself or was he also worried about how his family might be impacted by publishing? Remember that his wife was very devout. How might she have been impacted if the church responded negatively to Darwin? Remember that scientists don't work in a vacuum. They can be influenced not just by academics but also by social, cultural and personal issues.
Make sure you read the guidelines carefully and address the prompts as written. If you have questions, you need to email me.
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ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to learn about these scientific figures and the history of discovery. Regarding the formula that Thomas had found, I find it quite impressive that he was able to develop something representing population. If only he knew what else differential equations could describe besides population. Over time there have been improvements in how we've developed these differential equations describing things in nature. For example, there is new research being done by calculating the population of red and white blood cells. This just goes to show one may not know what their discoveries might lead.
ReplyDeleteRegarding the actions mentioned after the publication of the theory, I feel that "attack" may not be the most apt for what had happened. Cautious may have been a more suitable word for he was most surely aware of what the church's views were and how his ideas would overturn their views of nature.