It was Thomas Malthus who was able to help Darwin
understand how new species were came to be. It was Malthus essay that explained
how population will increase faster than the resources needed to provide for
that population, and in result leads to a struggle for existence (death,
starvation, famine, etc). This helped Darwin understand his theory of natural
selection. Prior to reading, and agreeing with Malthus’s ideas, natural selection
was Darwin’s viewpoints and ideas he had been developing. Darwin did acknowledge that he was already
aware of the 'struggle for existence' among different species of plants and
animals. However, it was only after he read Malthus' work, he realized that
animals in their struggle to survive retained the favorable features that would
help them adjust to the environment, and lost those that were of no use to them
(Bose,2010). Malthus was the starting point that helped influence Darwin to continue looking
for more data to support his theory.
Darwin had already established the thought of
natural selection and would have continued to develop his theory within his
work. It was Malthus that did get the ball rolling. Malthus essay was able to
get Darwin to look at what Malthus thought in terms to population and resources
and Darwin used it towards plants and animals to help strengthen his theory.
Darwin continued to
work on his theory because he felt he did not have enough data to support his
theory but he was also concerned with the thoughts of his wife and the church. Darwin’s
wife and many of his friends were followers of the church, which found
evolution contradicting to their beliefs which would cause conflict. This was
one of the influences for Darwin not to publish his theory, just yet.Bose, Debopriya. "Thomas Malthus: Theory of Population." Buzzle. N.p., 10 July 2012. Web. 09 June 2015.
I did the same person for my post. I found it interesting how closely related the ideas of Darwin and Malthus are linked. It showed clear influence upon Darwin, because it pushed him in the right direction with his own theory. You and I had a similar train of thought, except the fact that I thought that while Malthus was a major player in Darwin's theory, I believed that he would have been able to form the theory on his own. Great post :)
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you Ashley, I also posted about Malthus. I really feel like he had a huge influence on Darwin. Like you said he was that starting point for Darwin. I think he really got Darwin asking question which lead him to develop his theory.
ReplyDeleteHey, help out your readers, particularly your instructor with her aging eyes. ;-) Break your post up in to paragraphs and format it so it is easier to follow and appreciate.
ReplyDeleteFor clarification, Malthus noted that all populations had the *potential* of outgrowing their resources, but only populations actually succeeded in the growth pattern. Natural populations seemed to be limited by that access to resources, leading Darwin to wonder if this was a random or non-random pattern. Good description, however, of how Darwin took this information and logically followed it to the conclusion that reproductive success was not random but dependent upon how well adapted an organism was to it's environment.
Missing the section highlighting the bullet points that can be traced directly to Malthus, namely the first three on the list?
I agree with your conclusions as to the importance of Malthus work to Darwin. Even Darwin seems to suggest this in his 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)
Very good concluding section on the influence of the church. It is important to understand that a scientist is not isolated from the world around him/her. Things other science will influence their work and their choices, whether they wish it to or not.