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Chapter 2 Biology: from Natural Philosophy to Darwin

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Chapter 2 Biology: from Natural Philosophy to Darwin 1/21/2019 The History of Evolutionary Thought: Pre 1800 Chapter 2 Comparative Anatomy: Andreas Vesalius Observation and Natural Theology: William Harvey & William Paley Biology: Fossils and the Birth of Paleontology: Nicholas Steno From natural philosophy to Nested Hierarchies, the Order of Nature: Carolus Linnaeus Darwin Old Earth, Ancient Life: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon The Ecology of Human Populations: Thomas Malthus The History of Evolutionary The History of Evolutionary Thought: 1800s Thought: 1800s Extinctions: Georges Cuvier Early Evolution and Development: Ernst Early Concepts of Evolution: Jean Baptiste Haeckel Lamarck Biogeography: Wallace and Wegener Developmental Similarities: Karl von Baer Fossil Hominids, Human Evolution: Thomas Biostratigraphy: William Smith Huxley & Eugene Dubois Uniformitarianism: Charles Lyell Chromosomes, Mutation, and the Birth of Modern Genetics: Thomas Hunt Morgan Discrete Genes Are Inherited: Gregor Mendel Natural Selection: Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace The History of Evolutionary The History of Evolutionary Thought: 1900 to present Thought: 1900 to present Random Mutations and Evolutionary Evolution and Development for the 21st Change: Ronald Fisher, JBS Haldane, & Century: Stephen Jay Gould Sewall Wright Genetic Similarities: Wilson, Sarich, Sibley, & Starting "The Modern Synthesis": Ahlquist Theodosius Dobzhansky Speciation: Ernst Mayr DNA, the Language of Evolution: Francis Crick & James Watson Radiometric Dating: Clair Patterson Endosymbiosis: Lynn Margulis 1 1/21/2019 The History of Evolutionary Thought Just as life has a history, science has a history. Understanding the history of evolutionary thinking illuminates the nature of science. Link to figure In this section, you will see how study in four disciplinary areas — Earth's history, life's history, mechanisms of evolution, and development and genetics — has contributed to our current understanding of evolution. Evolution = change Concept that species change over time, Founders of Natural has roots in antiquity Science Ancient Greeks Romans Chinese From Ancient Times to the Medieval Islamic science. Enlightenment Evolution in Greece St. Augustine of Hippo Philosophical notion of descent with Theistic evolution? with modification Believed that God created all things ex Concept of origination nihilo, instantaneously in the form of All things originated from water or air seminal principals All things descended from one central, guiding principle Seeds St. Augustine of Hippo Aristotle (384 – 322 BC) Believe in spontaneous generation (354-430 AD) Suggests a transition between the living and the Therefore, seeds existed in living and nonliving non-living matter Theorizes that in all things there is a constant desire to “In the beginning” was the beginning of move from the lower to the higher, finally becoming the time divine Very important idea for creationism - Purpose for every organism, fixity of species, ladder of life (Scala Naturae) 2 1/21/2019 St. Augustine of Hippo Medieval Theories Evolution was not discussed Creation in 7 days - may not be 24 hr days Dominated by the Christian theory of “Day” was figurative special creation Adam created < 5600 years All living things came into existence in unchanging Nature has the potential to produce and evolve? forms due to divine will Argument about what he meant by seeds Confused by the idea of spontaneous generation Could they yield molecules to living things – theistic Rotten meat gave rise to maggots creation? Rags produced rats or - Were they fixed at the time of creation? Frogs came from slime This concept prevented both genetic thinking and speculation about evolution or descent with modification John Ray Galileo, Bacon, Descartes John Ray 1627-1705 Supported the theory that fossils were Physicists, Astronomers break with once living organisms traditional beliefs Died in “Flood.” Solar system debate - earth versus sun as Fossils that resembled no living organism due to ignorance of the full range of living center of the universe organisms Insight that fossils were once living organisms was a significant advance Galileo Galilei over most other theories of his time, 1564 –1642 Questions as to what fossils might indicate about the Earth's age and history would be investigated by generations of paleontologists. The History of Evolutionary The History of Evolutionary Thought: Pre 1800 Thought: Pre 1800 Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) William Harvey (1578 – Flemish anatomist 1657) Corrected errors in Galens’ early English physician dissection work Discovered how blood (Greek physician) circulates Famous for his exquisite Observation and Natural anatomical charts Theology: William Harvey Research led to conclusion that & William Paley humans are not unique, share Comparative Anatomy: many characteristics with Andreas Vesalius other animals 3 1/21/2019 John Ray (1628-1705) Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) First ideas about the Big Bang that Often referred to as the father of natural history in Britain. created the solar system Developed a concept of descent Published systematic works on plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects similar to modern ideas brought order to the chaotic mass of names in use by Speculated that organisms may have come from the naturalists of his time. a single ancestral source Searched for the "natural system," a classification of Based on similarities between organisms organisms that would reflect the Divine Order of an orang-outang or a chimpanzee may develop the creation. organs which serve for walking, grasping objects, and Classified plants by overall morphology speaking-in short, that lie may evolve the structure of Would become a powerful tool for evolutionary man, with an organ for the use of reason, which shall biologists trying to infer evolutionary relationships gradually develop itself by social culture The History of Evolutionary William Paley Thought: Pre 1800 William Paley (1743–1805) Darwin took from his reading of Paley a belief in 1802: Natural Theology: or, Evidences of the adaptation -- that organisms are somehow fit for the Existence and Attributes of the Deity, environments in which they live, that their structure Collected from the Appearances of Nature, reflects the functions they perform throughout their lives. Laid out a full exposition of natural theology, the belief that the nature of God could be Living organisms, Paley argued, are even more understood by reference to His creation, the complicated than watches, in a degree which exceeds all natural world. computation. How else to account for the often amazing Introduced one of the most famous metaphors adaptations of animals and plants? Only an Intelligent in the philosophy of science, the image of the Designer could have created them, just as only an watchmaker. Intelligent Watchmaker can make a watch: … Richard Dawkins – The Blind Watchmaker Observation and Natural Theology: William Harvey & William Paley . when we come to inspect the watch, we perceive. The History of Evolutionary that its several parts are framed and put together for a purpose, e.g. that they are so formed and adjusted as to Thought: Pre 1800 produce motion, and that motion so regulated as to point out the hour of the day; that if the different parts had been differently shaped from what they are, or placed after any other manner or in any other order than that in which they are placed, either no motion at all would have been carried on in the machine, or none which would have answered the use that is now served by it. the inference we think is inevitable, that the watch must have had a maker -- that there must have existed, at some time and at some place or other, an artificer or artificers who formed it for the purpose which we find it actually to Nicolas Steno (1638-86): Father answer, who comprehended its construction and of geology and stratigraphy designed its use. Fossils and the Birth of Paleontology: Nicholas Steno 4 1/21/2019 Some recognized record of historical change Niels Stensen (better known as Steno) Danish anatomist Preludes to Recognized record of historical change Proposed that fossils belonged to once living Evolution creatures Fossils were snapshots of life at different moments in Earth’s history Birth of paleontology Law of Superposition Rock layers formed slowly over time Older rocks lie below younger rocks Early naturalists classified life’s Carl von Linne' diversity Latinized to Carolus Linnaeus Swedish naturalist Followed in footsteps of Aristotle who also tried to categorize living organisms Plant classification was based entirely on floral reproductive organs Identified every known species according to a standard binomial nomenclature, Binomial epithet (genus species: Carl Linnaeus (1707-78): Homo sapiens or Homo sapiens) Father of modern taxonomy Nested Hierarchies, the Order of Nature: Carolus Linnaeus Humans as primates Erasmus Darwin Carolus Linnaeus (1731-1802) At first, he believed in the fixed nature of Darwin’s grandfather species, but was later swayed by hybridization Distinguished naturalist experiments in plants, which could produce new Argued that all life could a have a single species. common ancestor Saw the new species created by plant hybridization to Struggled with the concepts of a mechanism for this have been part of God's plan descent Maintained belief in special creation in the Discussed the effects of competition and sexual Garden
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