Jean Baptiste Lamark is one of the earliest scientists
to impart his beliefs and ideas on evolution to the public. He proposed the
idea that organisms evolve from simple to complex forms; by this, Lamark means
that any organism starts its life in the most simple and basic form and
gradually evolve in an upward direction towards a more complex form. This “complex
form” refers to an organism that resembles perfection for it is the best
evolved form of its species. According to Lamark, evolution happens over time
as organisms change their behavior to match environmental changes; this changed
behavior modifies their organs causing their offspring to inherit these “improved”
structures. One example lays in the reasons for giraffes long necks—using
Lamark’s theory, these giraffes’ long necks are due to generations of browsing
in tree leaves. Because they spend all their time stretching their necks to
reach the tree leaves, their organs and muscles “adapt” and alter to better
compromise their situation. This does not occur instantaneously but rather over
generations. (Information obtained from: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/3/l_023_01.html)
“If
the environment changes, the traits
that are helpful or adaptive to that
environment will be different.”
This quote simply states the most basic idea of
Darwinism: natural selection—which is nature choosing which organisms will
survive and achieve reproduction. Jean Baptiste Lamark influenced this idea
when he stated that organisms change their behaviors to match environmental
changes. In a sense, Darwin’s natural selection is a backwards repetition of
Lamark’s theory. Lamark believed that organisms incur the change themselves while
it could be said Darwin bettered the theory by claiming that nature itself is
the one that inflicts alterations in a species over time. According to the
quotes, “traits that are helpful or adaptive to [the] environment” evolve in
accordance with environmental changes. This is the exact idea Lamark was
trying to portray with his theory of organisms’ organs restructuring to match environmental
changes. Of course organs are not exactly the same as traits but Lamark was
correct in his hypothesis that changes in a species occur due to changes in the
environment.
It is in my opinion that Charles Darwin could not have
developed his theory of evolution without the influence and ideas of Jean
Baptiste Lamark. Lamark caved the way for Darwin with his realization that
the environment plays a big part in the evolution of species throughout
generations. Lamark’s intensive research and data collection played a big part
in helping Darwin shape his theory of evolution; Lamark had already done the research,
Darwin simply analyzed and added on to it. According to Berkeley (in their
link: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/lamarck.html),
they state that “[Darwin] later admitted that the heritable effects of use and
disuse might be important in evolution.” From this, it is clear to see that
Lamark was one of the resources Darwin used to develop his natural selection
theory.
Back in the days of Charles Darwin (1800s), the church
was the prevailing power in the land. Its idea of human creation was expected
to be accepted by all; those who dared to challenge this idea risk hypocrisy
and being attacked by the church. This became the biggest conflict for Darwin
who grew up as a devoted follower and member of the church itself—he was
greatly involved in the church’s activities and even attempted to become a
clergyman himself. Because of this, Darwin remained unsure of whether or not he
should publish his book On the Origin of
the Species. Not only did the church’s ideas affect his publication, but it
also affected the book’s content—Darwin tried to stay away from discussing
human evolution in his book due to the prejudices of the church. Eventually,
Darwin published his work with the encouragement, support, and urges of his
scientific friends.
