A lot of individuals have helped shape Darwin's theory of Natural Selection but Thomas Malthus may have had the biggest influence. Thomas Malthus wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population explaining how population size is restricted by the resources available. Malthus then describes how all organisms must compete in order to survive with the limited resources. Competition plays a huge role in Darwin's theory of Natural Selection because it favors the organisms that can compete for and get the resources needed to survive. In An Essay on the Principle of Population Malthus points out that all organisms can reproduce exponentially, even to the point where the organisms cannot survive anymore. Another point in Darwin's theory of Natural Selection is that resources are limited. Malthus states that when resources are limited, the population size is also limited because of the competition that is created. This is a major point that Darwin adopted into his theory and I do not believe he could have created the theory without Malthus' influence. Although Darwin himself felt indifferent towards religion, his wife Emma Wedgwood had strong religious convictions that made Darwin second guess publishing his work. Darwin's ideas about natural selection went against his wife's religious views but after receiving a paper from Alfred Wallace he knew he had to publish his book. Darwin was afraid that Wallace's paper would take credit for the finding of the theory of natural selection so he decided that he would publish his work. In December of 1859 Darwin published On the Origin of Species.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
Great job on showing how Darwin worked directly from Malthus' work. Competition for resources is the funemental principle in evolution. It is too bad that at the time, the church had such a big say in what could be published. Dwarwin was a revolutionary in his publication.
ReplyDeleteYou did a very good job describing Malthus' work and showing point by point how Darwin took that information and applied it directly to his own work. Well done.
ReplyDeleteI'm not usually willing to give too much credit to any one person in their influence over another's work, but I'm willing to consider it with Malthus. Darwin was having difficulty putting all of the pieces of his research puzzle together into a cogent theory until he read Malthus' paper. He even discussed 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."
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
Great discussion on the different forces pulling at Darwin in his decision to publish. Yes, his wife and her faith played a huge role in his decision to delay. Scientists don't work in a vacuum. They are influenced not only scientifically, but also socially and personally as well.
Good post.
One suggestion: These posts are essentially papers. Make it easier on your readers (including the one grading it) by formatting them as you would a regular paper, complete with paragraphs for each separate point or topic.
Good points! I didn't know Darwin's wife had a large role in his research, though I can see how it would obviously be a problem. You explained the trouble between religion and Darwin's research very well.
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