Charles Darwin was known to many as the "Father of Evolution" but some do not know that many of his ideas came from other people as well. He was influenced by many others and the one I believe to be the most influential over him is Charles Lyell. He was mostly influenced by Lyells theory once he read his Principles of Geology when he was on the Beagle Voyage. While on the voyage Darwin experienced an earthquake that scared him very much which made him believe Lyells theory even more. The reason for Darwin being influenced while on the voyage was because Lyell believed that the geological events that happened at the beginning of time are the exact same ones that will happen again. A point that relates to Darwins and Lyells influence from "How does evolution work?" would be how as the environment changes species will change as well so they will be best suited for the environment. They believed that there must be changes in the earth in order to change the species because without any changes the species will remain the same and will not adapt to changes in the future. I do not believe that Charles Darwin could have constructed his theory without the influence of Lyell. They both contributed to their ideas because Charles Darwin in a way also influenced Lyell very much. One "Origin of Species" was published it opened many of those religious peoples eyes because it made them question life and its origins also everything they had believed previously.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/4/l_024_01.html
http://evolution.about.com/od/Darwin/tp/People-Who-Influenced-Charles-Darwin.htm
I do agree that Charles Lyell is the founder of modern geology. I read in the book that he demonstrated that natural disasters all contributed in the past to help produce the landscape we have today. He also believed that the earth was much older than any one had ever thought. The believe that Darwin shared was that evolution was a very slow process.
ReplyDeleteJust a comment on "disasters": Don't confuse Lyell with Cuvier. Cuvier based his ideas on 'catastrophism', where changes occurred in natural populations due to catastrophic events. Lyell recognized that there were slow natural processes that shaped the earth. These didn't have to be catastrophic... erosion of rock by a stream would qualify, as would wind and temperature changes.
DeleteIn general, okay on your background of Lyell. What was his theory called?
ReplyDeleteI agree that part of Lyell's influence is related to the concept of environmental change, but there were interesting parallels between Lyell's work and Darwin's which might have had influence as well. Both recognized the existence of slow, gradual forces acting on earth and the organisms on it, respectively.
One thing to recognize is that perhaps the greatest contribution to Darwin from Lyell was the gift of time. Prior to Lyell, it was thought that the earth was only about 6000 years old. This isn't nearly long enough to produce the multitude of species on the earth currently, let alone all the extinct ones in the fossil record. By demonstrating that the earth was millions (actually billions) of years old, Lyell gave Darwin the time natural selection needed to work.
Generally, I do hesitate to ever give one individual that much influence over the work of another... but I'm willing to allow for it in Lyell's case (Malthus is another). But again, this isn't just because of the conceptual contributions. It is also that matter of time that makes Lyell so important.
The final question asks how the church influenced the publication of Darwin's work, not how Darwin's work influenced religion after it was published. Darwin delayed his work for more than 20 years. Why? What were his concerns? And how might the influence of the church played a role in this delay?