Alfred Russel Wallace had the most influence over Darwin's development of his theory of Natural Selection. Wallace's contribution to the scientific community was his observations of animals and their adaptive 'evolutionary' features.
"During his exploration on plants and animals of the
Amazon, he distinguished that some animals had camouflage to help them
hide from predators, and some birds had specially shaped bills to let
them crack open nuts and extract nectar from plants. Some plants had
clever defenses to help fight attacks by insects. These observations led
Wallace to develop a theory about how species of plants and animals
gradually change through a process known as evolution
or “natural selection”. ~Provided by http://www.phfawcettsweb.org/wallace.htm
Darwin actually did develop his theory of natural selection with the help of facts from Wallace and his obervations in the Amazon. Wallace noticed plants developed defenses to help fend off insects which led to Wallace's theory that some plants and animals change over time through evolution. The Church believed at the time that the world and its entirety was created by God, not by evolution. Darwin research and theory proved otherwise and the evidence that evolution was not just a theory but an actual process. His book proposed the thought that human beings were just another evolved form of an animal.
"The book was extremely controversial, because the logical extension of Darwin's theory was that homo sapiens
was simply another form of animal. It made it seem possible that even
people might just have evolved - quite possibly from apes - and
destroyed the prevailing orthodoxy on how the world was created. Darwin
was vehemently attacked, particularly by the Church."
~Provided by http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/darwin_charles.shtml
I personally didn't think Russel Wallace had the most influence on Charles Darwin, but after reading your post I started questioning my pick. You made some excellent points and had a lot of information to back up your pick.
ReplyDeleteQuotes are fine from sources (and I appreciate how you cited them correctly), but the explanation should be in your own words.
ReplyDeleteSo of the bullet points listed in the background material, which one (or ones) did Wallace contribute the most? This is a bit of a trick question with Wallace, but it should have been addressed here.
Darwin had developed his theory before Wallace came on the scene. Darwin did depend upon Wallace to help confirm a lot of his ideas and to shape and sharpen his argument. But primary contribution of Wallace may well have been the impetus he gave Darwin to finally publish his work after more than a 20 year delay.
The big controversy with the church was not necessarily the issue of evolution itself, but the implication that humans evolved via the same processes as other animals (as you mention a little later). Why do you think Darwin delayed the publication of his work? What was he concerned about? How might publication have impacted his own life and the life of his family?
You've got the basics here (except for the bullet point issue... #3) but don't be afraid to expand and put more of the post in your own words.
I liked your post and that is true with out Alfred Russel Wallace, Charles Darwin wouldn't know really about natural selection but his view on animal evolution was great tho
ReplyDeleteThough
DeleteYou make a good argument for Wallace and his influence on Darwin. I feel that Malthus had the most influence because of his essay regarding population and food supply. He wrote that population would always out grow the available food sources. Therefore, this leads to competition and competition leads to the natural selection of the fittest organisms survival and its ability to pass on the trait that allowed it to "beat" its competition.
ReplyDeleteI found a very interesting article telling that actually Darwin's theory was accepted by many christians at the time because christians had already accepted "The Old Earth" theory which conflicted with the six-days creation of genesis before "The Origin of Species". I thought Church must have disagreed and didn't accept the idea of Darwin's theory, and I studied so in my high school. So I was surprised to read the article.
ReplyDeleteI chose to write mine on Wallace as well and I personally believe his influence on Darwin & the natural selection theory was extreme. I found an article explaining how Wallace encouraged Darwin to observe pigeons and record how they would evolve over time. This encouraged Darwin to further pursue his theory on natural selection.
ReplyDelete