Week 1 - Historical Influences on Darwin: Background
Of those who influenced and shaped Darwin’s work I’ve chosen
Thomas Malthus, who in my opinion acted as the true catalyst in Darwin’s development
of his theory of Natural Selection. His contribution to science made such an impact that it influenced not only Darwin’s work but also the separate discovery of
natural selection by Alfred Russel Wallace.
Malthus published his work An Essay of the principles of population
in 1798 arguing that an unchecked population of man is impossible to sustain. Regardless
of how much productivity of resources increases it will not sufficiently keep up
with an unrestrained population (Elwell). There are checks, he explains in his
essay, that are placed either artificially or naturally that keep populations
from growing exponentially. This idea of “checks” is the key factor that positively
influenced Darwin’s development of natural selection. Although, Malthus
strictly focused on human population, the overall idea of nature’s “checks and
balances”, Darwin found, applies to all species. Furthermore, Darwin used this
exact principle to explain how a variety of species are made, through natural
selection.
Malthus’s idea that there is
competition for resources is regurgitated as a key point in Darwin’s theory.
Limited resources mean that not all offspring will survive. Which then results
in the fact that only the fittest organisms will survive, and they will be the
ones who reproduce and pass down hereditary traits which will make their
offspring more competitive. Darwin’s intuition along with Malthus’s positive influence
caused this discovery.
Darwin always had a sharp mind but it’s
hard to argue that he could have developed his theory without Malthus’s direct
influence. The fact that both Darwin and Wallace developed their separate theories
of natural selection only supports greatly the fact that Malthus had the
greatest influence.
More of a struggle for Darwin might
have been finding the courage to publish his work. The political climate of
England during the mid-1800’s was one that opposed any kind of revolutionary
ideas mainly due to fear of influence from post-revolutionary France. The idea
of evolution greatly countered the church’s idea of natural history. Therefore,
Darwin hesitated as long as possible to publish his work. The Church, his wife
Emma’s convictions and even the scientific community posed a threat to publishing
his work.
Elwell, Frank W., 2003,
"Malthus's Population Principle Explained," Retrieved February
8, 2018,
http://www.faculty.rsu.edu/~felwell/Theorists/Essay/Malthus1.htm
Hi Julissa,
ReplyDeleteAlthough I chose Charles Lyell as the most influential to Darwin, you did make very strong points about Malthus. The way you incorporated slightly how Alfred Russel Wallace was influenced by Malthus, it supports how influential Malthus was in the science community. I don't think it'd be very hard to argue if Darwin would have been able to develop his theory without Malthus as Darwin may have been influenced by many.
Excellent description of Malthus work, particularly noting the "checks" that served as the inspiration for Darwin's mechanism of natural selection.
ReplyDeleteI agree that competition for resources was important for Darwin, but Malthus himself didn't really raise the issue in his work. He was mostly concerned with the negative impact of overpopulation on humans, not exploring the limiting factors in natural populations. But there are two of the bullet points that do apply directly to Malthus and arise from his essay: Potential exponential growth of populations and the limited arithmetic growth rate of resources.
Good point in the next section on Wallace also relying upon Malthus's ideas for his work. We also have Darwin's own words to help us understand just how important Malthus was:
"... 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
Good information in your last section, but I want to challenge the idea that the barriers to publishing were that elevated and not more personally based. I suggest you are closer to the truth with your mention of his wife, Emma. When people make decisions in life, even scientists, they are heavily influenced by how those close to them will be impacted. So perhaps the issues that helped shape his decision involved how she would be impacted within society? He also would have been worried about their family in general, and he might also have been concerned with how he would be impacted, both socially and professionally.
Hi Julissa,
ReplyDeleteI also chose Thomas Malthus as the most influential person on Darwin's theory too. I found it very interesting when you mentioned "checks and balances." One can see that Darwin realized that it not only applied to the human population but to all forms of life. This is how Darwin developed his theory of natural selection. Malthus's idea about the competition for resources is what Darwin's theory revolved around. Good job on your blog post.
Hi Julissa,
ReplyDeleteVery well put together post. I can now understand more thoroughly why Malthus was such a significant factor for the development of Darwin's theory. I was under the impression that Malthus only argued the success of human reproduction and the passing of traits that would help their chances of survival. I now see why you made it a point for people to understand that even though Malthus only focused on the human population, his concept regarding the "checks and balances" of nature can affect the progress of both humans and species because the neutrality of natural selection doesn't disregard any kind of living organism. A great extension to knowing that resources are a major factor for the success of living organisms the age of earth as Lyell would suggest also becomes an important factor to Darwin's theory.