1) Thomas Malthus had the greatest positive influence on Charles Darwin's development of the theory of Natural selection.
2) Thomas Malthus was not a scientist. Malthus was an economist who wrote, Essay on the Principle of Population, thought about how populations were effected by resources. He concluded that populations growth will out grow the number of resources. Population will only grow to the limit of essential supplies and population growth would be halted by poverty and war. However, Malthus believed that famine and poverty were the caused by a divine hand. He believed that God was preventing man from becoming sloths.
3)Malthus ideas comes striking close to Darwin's theory of Natural selection. Malthus knew that resources would be a limiting factor and that an organism, in this case man, have the potential of reproducing exponentially. Where Malthus and Darwin differ the divine institution of poverty and famine. Darwin believed the struggle to survive was natural while Malthus believed it was the work of God.
4) Charles Darwin could not have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence and ideas of Thomas Malthus. Charles Darwin wrote in his biography,
"In October 1838, that is, fifteen months after I had begun my systematic inquiry, I happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long- continued observation of the habits of animals and plants, 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".
Malthus sparked the idea of "survival of the fittest" into Darwin's mind which directly cause the development of the theory of Natural selection.
5)The Church of England did not accept Darwin's ideas in his publication of On the Origin of Species. The Church, for many years before the books publication, stated many of the bibles passage were to be taken metaphorically. The Church had no problem with the general idea of evolution because after all this could have been God's plan. The problem lies with the idea of Natural selection. Natural selection suggests that all organism fight to survive while God watches unsympathetically. A lineal evolution might have been accepted but Darwin's ideal of evolution show that nature is appalling.
sources
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/360609/Thomas-Robert-Malthus/222944/Malthusian-theory
https://sites.google.com/site/qitranscripts//transcripts/7x06
posted by Unknown @ 3:59 PM
2 Comments
2 Comments:
"Malthus ideas comes striking close to Darwin's theory of Natural selection."
Well, the reason for this is that Darwin read Malthus' work and realized that this was connection he was looking for in his theory, this relationship between nature, survival, resources and reproductive success. It wasn't until Darwin read Malthus that Darwin thought to ask the question, "If not all organisms successfully survive and reproduce, which ones ARE successful? Is it random or is there a force directing the process?" The answer was that nature was selecting those who were successful (not in a conscious way, of course) depending upon their existing traits and how well they "fit" in a given environment. Hence "natural selection".
So the relationship between Malthus and Darwin was more than parallel theories. Its a causal relationship, where Malthus' work shaped Darwin's. That is why it was so crucial.
I rarely dare to give any one scientist so much importance as to say they were necessary to the success of another scientist, but in Darwin's case, I would be comfortable saying Malthus was just that important (as was Lyell, by the way). I would agree with you that Darwin may well have not developed his theory without Malthus.
The final question asks you to look at the process of publishing from Darwin's perspective, not the church's. There were multiple issues why the church may have had with Darwin's theory, but he kept it under wraps for more than 20 years before publishing, so the question is why? The church supposedly didn't know about it yet, so why did Darwin delay as long as he did? What repercussions did he fear, both for himself and for his family?
Id have to agree with you. From what I read about him, Malthus, for all intents and purposes, laid the foundations for both Darwin's AND Alfred Wallace's Theories as it mentioned in my research on Wallace. They both site him as a MAJOR Influence on both of their theories. I do not think you could find any negative influence from Malthus on Darwin without REALLY looking into it. I support your position.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home