Charles Lyell is not only
considered the founder of modern geology but he is also the most influential
individual at the time of Charles Darwin’s development of his natural selection
theory.
Lyell brought forward the concept of “deep
time” (Gould, 1987) which made all scientists look at a wider range of
geographic history when establishing new theories. That concept alone helped
Darwin reach all eight of the basic processes he stated were the explanation of
evolution. Natural selection, as we’ve been told, is the key to evolution.
Without the concept of “deep time” Darwin, along with other scientists, would
not have thought of evaluating different species over time and made it possible
to form theories like, “Individuals who possess favorable variations or traits
have an advantage over those who don’t” (Jurmain 38). That statement comes straight from one of
Darwin’s explanation of evolution. Now, those individuals who have the
favorable traits are more likely to survive as opposed to the individuals who
don’t have those traits. This means, over time the individuals without the
favorable traits are likely to be extinct since their low survival rate lowers
their chance to sexually reproduce. For example, in Ecuador, the hummingbirds
with longer bills in an environment with tall flowers were most favorable. On
the other hand, the humming birds with shorter bills were not favorable. That
meant the longer billed hummingbirds were able to sexually reproduce just fine
whereas the shorter billed hummingbirds were most likely not going to survive
long enough to reproduce and over time that meant there would only be long
billed hummingbirds in that area. (PBS Video: How Does Evolution Really Work?) Like
I stated above, without Lyell’s concept of “deep time”, Darwin, and other
scientists, would not have been able to conduct studies to conclude natural selection
occurs in species because they would not have been looking at the progression
of a species trait over its entire known existence.
Darwin was hesitant to publish his
book Origin of Species because during
that time many people came to associate evolution with atheism and political
subversion (Jurmain 34). Evolutionary ideas made people strongly believe if the
ideas were accepted “the church would crash, the moral fabric of society would
be torn apart, and civilized man would return to savagery” (Desmond and Moore,
1991, p.34). Basically, accepting the idea of evolution meant Darwin would be
going against the church’s strong belief that God created the Earth and all
living species on it and the majority, if not all, of society was accustomed to
siding with the church’s belief.
Excellent explanation on the issue of "deep time". That definitely was a key contribution Lyell made to Darwin's work. Don't forget about the other part of his work, however, namely the concept of gradualism. The forces that gradually, steadily shape the earth mirror the gradual processes that slowly shape and alter organisms. That was an important connection to make for Darwin.
ReplyDeleteI usually tend to think that no one scientist is so influential over another's work that they were indispensable. However, given how important that concept of "time" was to Darwin, I do wonder if he would have never been able to work out his theory without Lyell.
Good discussion on how the church impacted Darwin's decision to publish his work. Well-argued.
Good first post.
Great way of explaining why you believe Lyell was most influential in Darwin's work. Truthfully even i considered choosing Lyell rather then who I ended up ultimately choosing. Lyell was obviously someone Darwin learned and obtained much of his knowledge from simply because of his theory and certain beliefs. Something you pointed out thoroughly as well as explained, in my opinion, almost perfectly. You did very well on giving your view and using excellent examples to back up why you felt the way you felt. I believe you answered the question accurately and profoundly. I really enjoyed reading your view on this particular subject. Good Job.
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