Michelle Vasquez
10/26/12
I believe that Thomas Malthus had the most positive influence over Charles Darwins' development of his Theory of Evolution. Thomas Malthus observed in nature that plants and animals are capable of producing far more offspring then can survive and that Man too is capable of this if left unchecked. Malthus concluded that unless family size was regulated, Man would succumb to poverty which would become a global epidemic and eventually consume man. Malthus' said that poverty and famine were natural outcomes of population growth and food supply. He believed that such natural outcomes were God's way of preventing man from being lazy.
Source: http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
Although Charles Darwin and Thomas Malthus came to their conclusions about Natural Selection independently, Malthus' views still influenced Darwin greatly. Darwin framed Malthus' principle in purely natural terms both in outcome and in ultimate reason. By doing this, he extended Malthus' logic even further than Malthus ever did. Darwin realized by animals producing more offspring than can survive establishes a competitive environment. The variations among siblings would mean that some of the individuals would be better off than others. This would later be defined in the term of Natural Selection. Thomas Malthus work helped inspire Charles Darwin to refine Natural Selection by stating a reason for competition between members of the same species.
I do not believe that Charles Darwin could have developed his theory of Natural Selection without the views and principles of Thomas Malthus. Malthus provided the basis of Darwin's view on Natural Selection. Without Malthus, I do not believe that Darwin could have come to the conclusion that he did. Malthus gave him the foundation and Darwin built it from there.
The church believed that the bible held all the answers for the way society was. Many people started to doubt the scriptures and the church because of Charles Darwin's book On the Origin of Species. Darwin states though that his book should not shake a Christian person's faith. It took awhile for the book to be published due to fear of religious persecution. He also feared that his views would be disgraced by society. Even though it took him awhile, Charles did publish his book.
Hi Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI thought you did a good job of explaining how Malthus influenced a lot of Darwin's thoughts on natural selection. Although I chose to research a different person, I do agree with what you are saying, and why you think that Thomas Malthus had a great influence on Charles Darwin. Good job!
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteI think your explanation was very well constructed. I like the way it was explained correctly. From what i read i agree that Darwin could not have come to his conclusion without Malthus. Great Job!
Careful! Malthus didn't develop a theory of Natural Selection. His argument was mainly to warn of the dangers of overpopulation, namely disease, famine and death (as you mention). He had no interest in the natural sciences. He was an economist.
ReplyDeleteThe key contribution of Malthus is that he caused Darwin to ask "Who survives?". If natural populations reproduce more offspring than survive, then what decides who lives and who dies? Is it random? Or is there a selective force. Darwin's answer was that the environment acts as the selective force, i.e., natural selection.
Malthus was indeed key to Darwin's work. It is still possible that he could have come up with this question on his own, but it would have taken longer.
Good final discussion.
I think Lamarck had more of an influence on Darwin. Basically he was Darwin before Darwin. Darwin took his ideas and findings and refined them. but great post though.
ReplyDeleteMalthus wrote the essay of the Principle of Survival before Darwin published his book "Origin of the Species". Therefore, it was only Darwin who wrote the "Natural Selection". The main point was Darwin connected his idea of Malthus' principle of Survival to his theory of Natural Selection. Thus Malthus has nothing to do with collaborating to Darwins work about the Natural Selection.
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