Evolution Blog-week 1
Thomas Malthus, I believe, had the most impact on Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. Malthus' input to evolution, somewhat challenged and raised a question about evolution. He wondered: if humans were to exceed the supply limit and resources were dwindling, then we humans will experience a decline in population. In other words, he says that if people don't have the resources to live, they will perish. This idea is somewhat relative to Darwin's philosophy of survival of the fittest. The human population will soon outperform the production limits of the universe.
One of the points listed above mentions that resources are limited. This is a positive correlation with Malthus because they believe in the same outcome. Both insist that once resources become scarce, then organisms must compete for them. Another point mentioned above is that organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts. This is basically the idea of the survival of the fittest. This point builds off of the Malthusian Theory because Thomas also believed that humans who can reproduce the most and have access to the sustainable economy, will strive in the world. Although, Malthus' theory is plausible, it hasn't really been very factual, when looking at the results today. Many people are indeed in famine and poor, however, many people are also striving in the economy and living normal lifestyles.
Darwin definitely could have come up with the theory of natural selection by himself. Since, Malthus and Darwin's ideas were very similar, Darwin could have easily studied animals on the Galapagos Islands and researched natural selection himself. Malthus only raised concerns of the limit of natural selection and how it can affect human population, that just animals. He applied Darwin's theory to the natural world, and in a way, scared many people with his idea of a decreasing population.
The church very much influenced Darwin's publication of natural selection. During an age of religious actions and God as the sole creator of the universe, promoting a natural world created by mother nature was not very pleasant to the Pope. To transition from years of studying the Bible to a scientific explanation of the world was not easy. In fact, Darwin received much backlash for his attempts to shy away from God. However, once published, Darwin's back-lashed natural selection theory was actually gaining credibility and acceptance. Overall, the church challenged Darwin, but in the end, the theory of natural selection prevailed.
Links: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malthus
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malthus
One of the points listed above mentions that resources are limited. This is a positive correlation with Malthus because they believe in the same outcome. Both insist that once resources become scarce, then organisms must compete for them. Another point mentioned above is that organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts. This is basically the idea of the survival of the fittest. This point builds off of the Malthusian Theory because Thomas also believed that humans who can reproduce the most and have access to the sustainable economy, will strive in the world. Although, Malthus' theory is plausible, it hasn't really been very factual, when looking at the results today. Many people are indeed in famine and poor, however, many people are also striving in the economy and living normal lifestyles.
Darwin definitely could have come up with the theory of natural selection by himself. Since, Malthus and Darwin's ideas were very similar, Darwin could have easily studied animals on the Galapagos Islands and researched natural selection himself. Malthus only raised concerns of the limit of natural selection and how it can affect human population, that just animals. He applied Darwin's theory to the natural world, and in a way, scared many people with his idea of a decreasing population.
The church very much influenced Darwin's publication of natural selection. During an age of religious actions and God as the sole creator of the universe, promoting a natural world created by mother nature was not very pleasant to the Pope. To transition from years of studying the Bible to a scientific explanation of the world was not easy. In fact, Darwin received much backlash for his attempts to shy away from God. However, once published, Darwin's back-lashed natural selection theory was actually gaining credibility and acceptance. Overall, the church challenged Darwin, but in the end, the theory of natural selection prevailed.
Links: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malthus
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Malthus
To be clear, Malthus not only didn't care about evolution, he was morally opposed to the concept. His concern was actually that humans didn't appear to have the natural limiting factors that prevented natural, non-human populations in check. We seemed to explode beyond our resource availability. If we didn't check our own reproduction (he was a huge proponent of contraceptive measures), then our numbers would necessarily be checked by famine, pestilence and war.
ReplyDeleteThe question is, how did he get to that idea, and that foundational information is what Darwin used to create his theory. There are two key "Malthusian principles", namely that (a) populations have the potential of growing exponentially and (b) resources can only grow arithmetically. This necessarily resulted in a conflict between population numbers and resource amounts which translates into competition for available resources. *That* was the information Darwin needed from Malthus to explain the selective process of what he called "natural selection". The competition for resources among diverse organisms will result in some being more competitive than others, resulting in their greater reproductive success and the spread of their traits, while the traits of less successful variants would become more rare or even disappear.
I agree with your first bullet point, "Resources are limited". The other one is not from Malthus but was a point Darwin derived from Malthus' work. The bullet point you are missing is the first one, namely "All organisms have the potential of reproducing exponentially."
"Malthus and Darwin's ideas were very similar"
Only because Darwin derived his ideas from Malthus. Without Malthus, where would those ideas come from?
"Darwin definitely could have come up with the theory of natural selection by himself. "
I don't think Darwin would agree with you. From Darwin's 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
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. As you explain in the second section, Malthus' work was the logical foundation for Darwin's theory. At the time Darwin read Malthus' essay, Darwin had collected a mountain of specimens and data, but couldn't figure out how to put it all together into a cohesive theory. Malthus concept of resource competition was key.
The Church of England didn't answer to the Pope. There were several wars over this matter and good old King Henry the VIII was excommunicated over it.
"However, once published, "
But the question here is how the church impacted Darwin's decision to publish in the first place, so we need to explore that time period, not what follows after.
"the church challenged Darwin"
Actually, the church didn't know Darwin existed until after he published, though that doesn't mean the church didn't play a role in Darwin's decision to delay. 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.