1. An individual that has had a significant influence
over the development of Darwin’s theory of Natural selection is Thomas Malthus.
Malthus has positively impacted the works of Charles Darwin by writing an
important essay.
2. Thomas Malthus, an English economist, contributed
to the scientific community by writing An
Essay on the Principle of Population in 1978. At the time, Malthus believed that human beings would struggle to prosper due to inadequate food supply. The reason for this shortfall
in food supply would simply be due to overpopulation (WGBH Educational Foundation). In accomplishing sustainability,
people would need to limit the number of children they had. Before Darwin had read the essay in hopes of
understanding the origin of species, he assumed that people had children well within their means. Afterward, he
realized that overpopulation does in fact exist. According to the author,
“…Darwin saw that the variation he had observed in wild populations would
produce some individuals that were slightly better equipped to thrive and
reproduce under the particular conditions at the same time” (WGBH Educational Foundation). Based on
this observation, Darwin could piece together the fact that these stronger
individuals would soon become dominant, resulting in the formation of a new
species. In conclusion, the essay helped reveal that natural selection is the force that drives evolution.
3. The points most influenced by Malthus’ work have to
do with the organisms having the potential to reproduce exponentially and
resources being limited. As stated earlier, Darwin realized that organisms are
overpopulating well beyond their means after reading Malthus’ essay. What seems
to be the problem with overpopulation? A major concern is having limited resources
to sustain the population. According to the text, “Malthus argued that the lack
of sufficient food and water would always be a constant source of ‘misery’ and
famine for humankind if our numbers continued to increase” (Jurmain et al. 32). With this in
mind, Darwin produced the idea that famine would result in competition,
a central theme in natural selection. Therefore, Darwin built upon the knowledge
provided my Malthus.
4. I do not believe Darwin could have developed his
theory of natural selection without Malthus. In Darwin's autobiography, he states “I
happened to read for amusement Malthus on Population…
it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would
attend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed” (Regents of the University of California). With this realization, he was able to produce the theory of Natural
selection.
5. All while Darwin was furthering his education concerning Natural selection, people were linking evolution with atheism and political
subversion (Jurmain et al. 34). The growing concern with accepting these evolutionary ideas
led people to believe that the church would eventually crumble. Darwin was
skeptical about publishing his works, fearing that it would contradict his
wife’s religious views as well as others.
Citations:
Jurmain, Robert, Lynn Kilgore, Wenda Trevathan, and Russell L. Ciochon. Introduction to Physical Anthropology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2014. Print.
Regents of the University of California. Thomas Malthus (1766-1834). 1994-2006,http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html. Accessed 9 February 2017.
WGBH Educational Foundation and Clear Blue Sky Productions, Inc. Darwin and Malthus. PBS, 2001, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/5/l_025_01.html. Accessed 9 February 2017.
Hello Anthro Girl, I enjoyed reading your post, very informative. But I have to disagree with you about Malthus, because although his theory helped Darwin put pieces or ideas together to develop his theory of Natural Selection; who really I think made a difference was Wallace, and not just because they had the same theory about evolution, but because of the pressure Darwin felt when he saw Wallace’s assay, it was what motivated him to publish his theory.
ReplyDeleteHello Amy,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post! It was cool to compare your thoughts on Malthus to my own; we had some similar ideas about his influence on Darwin. I think that the most important thing that Malthus provided for Darwin was the building blocks for him to start seeing the bigger picture of natural selection. Darwin was a very smart man; there is no doubt in my mind of this. But, without Malthus' work to give him that inspiration and "Ah ha!" moment, I don't know that he would have been able to see it so clearly. In time, maybe he would have. But with all of the negative influences he had working against him (the church, his conscience about faith, other scientists contradicting him) he would likely have been distracted and possibly discouraged from going farther. I can imagine that Malthus' work made it too hard to ignore. Great post!
-Steven
Hi Amy,
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your post I was very impressed by your arguments and evidence about your thoughts on Malthus being the most influential in the development of Darwin's theory. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that Malthus was more inspirational to Darwin by fluke, since as you stated in your post he happened upon his book. It was mere chance, but lucky at that. Some people say everything happens for a reason, and perhaps his findings of Malthus' publication of Population tipped him over the edge to produce his theory, but we will never know for sure. Excellent post!
Good sources.
ReplyDelete"Darwin saw that the variation he had observed in wild populations would produce some individuals that were slightly better equipped to thrive and reproduce under the particular conditions at the same time”"
Correct, but I'm not sure how he came to that conclusion from overpopulation in human populations. There are a few steps missing. Malthus noticed that natural populations of animals never seemed to overpopulate their available resources. It was as if some natural force was limiting their population size. What caught Darwin's attention was the reference to that natural force that limited natural populations, and it made Darwin ask what was limiting the reproduction of those organisms. Malthus' emphasis on resources gave him the key... it was competition for those resources that limited population numbers. The next question was whether the limited force was random or directed. The answer was that it was directed by the environment, with those organisms with the best "fit" in that environment competing best for those resources and having more reproductive success, passing on more of those successful genes. Conversely, those who were less fit would have few (or no) offspring, and the next generation would have more of the "good" genes and less of the "bad". That describes the process of natural selection.
Good choice of bullet points.
Great quote! That is one of my favorites. Darwin, at the time that he read Malthus, had a mountain of data and no cohesive means of organizing it into some meaningful theory. Malthus' work provided him with the cornerstone to that theory. It was that important.
Regardless of how evolutionary theory was perceived at that point (I'm not convinced that had a huge impact on Darwin's actions), the key here is that Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. That is a long time and there must have been some serious concerns on his part to cause him to wait that long (and he might have waited longer if not for Wallace). You are correct that Darwin was likely concerned about how his wife would feel, but he actually had her review his manuscript and asked her permission before he published. I suggest that he was also likely concerned about the professional, social and personal repercussions that might have developed had the church responded negatively to Darwin's work, not just for him, but also for his wife and children.
Hello Anthro Girl,
ReplyDeleteI like your post because i do believe myself that Thomas Malthus influenced Darwin the most because he provided him with a platform with the idea of having a limited resource in a given scenario which would establish that the most suited for the environment would survive. I like this post very much and keep up the good work!