After doing a bit of research on
each of the individuals, I believe that Thomas Malthus has the most influence
over Charles Darwin’s development of his theory of Natural Selection. In my
brief research I found that Charles Darwin read Thomas Malthus essay on the
“Principle of Population” which contributed to Darwin formulating his theory on
natural selection. Along with Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin researched the
logic even further to support their theory. I believe Thomas Malthus was a
positive influence on Darwin and his work and studies helped Darwin establish
his own theories and ideas. Thomas Malthus concluded in his essay on the
Principle of Population that famine and poverty were both natural outcomes of
population grown and food supply. Malthus also stated in his well known essay
that in nature both plants an animals overproduce to the point where they can
not survive and if humans do not regulate population, them to can overpopulate.
A key point
of Malthus is that all organisms have the potential or reproducing
exponentially, even humans if not regulated. Malthus came to a conclusion that
if the human population does not get regulated, man could potentially suffer
from epidemic famine. Darwin was able to expand this further and build his
theory on it as well. Charles Darwin came to a conclusion that overpopulation will
prove a competitive environment among its species. Another fact that Darwin
came to a conclusion is that resources are limited; therefore only species that
evolve to have an advantage will survive. Malthus had a positive influence on
Darwin, especially from his work of the essay Principle of Population. Charles
Darwin was able to study this further and build his theory from that essay. I
believe that Charles Darwin could have developed his theory of natural
selection without the influence and ideas of Malthus but not fully. Darwin had
already been forming his own theory of natural selection and worked with other
individuals that furthered his theories. I believe that with out the influence
of Malthus, Darwin would have taken much longer to build his theory and would
have different ideas and views. Darwin already believed in survival of the
fittest and Malthus work I believed helped him support his ideas. The attitude
of the church affected Darwin’s work and eventually the publication of his book
because he was more private and hesitant about revealing is work. With the
negative pressure of the church in believing something different, Darwin had a
hard time-sharing his ideas and theories to others. The attitude of the church
not being very accepting of contradicting ideas made Darwin very private about
his work. Darwin wanted to make sure that all his facts and theories were fully
supported before sharing it with the public. I believe that if the attitude of
the church had been more encouraging and accepting to new beliefs and ideas,
Darwin would have been much more successful in his work. Darwin was intimidated
by the church and was hesitant to share his work with others, fearing that clergyman
would criticize him on his ideas.
I agree !! Malthus was a big influence on Darwin. With population they are still trying to prove what can happen with over populating but you made a great point with that. I think that Malthus was a stepping stone but , the point you made about Darwin being able to develop his theory without Malthus but not completely is totally true !! I also think he needed someone else with the same views to make him more ok with his ideas. His views would have been different and i think it would have taken him a long time or he would have eventually ran into someone with an idea to help him like Malthus did. I think no matter what the church had said he was successful either way but, your right on how he was hesitant and the church wasn't helping him or encouraging on his work.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!!!
Although i choose Charles Lyell, Thomas Malthus was my second choose. I felt you did a great job with putting your personal thoughts to it. I agree that with out Malthus Darwin wouldnt of gotten as far as he did. I think Charles also help him because with out knowing how long the world was Darwin wouldnt of been stuck and would of taken him more longer to develop on his theory lyell was a very important key point . i also agree on what you siad about the church, he was afraid on getting criticize and worry about what would be said. i really enjoyed reading your blog :)!!!
ReplyDeleteIn general, good background on Malthus' work. You did a good job explaining the connections between Malthus and Darwin's ideas on natural selection.
ReplyDeleteI do need to argue with this sentence: "Darwin already believed in survival of the fittest and Malthus work I believed helped him support his ideas."
Two problems with this. Darwin never introduced the term "survival of the fittest". It was suggested by a social anthropologist Herbert Spencer when talking about changing social systems. The other problems is that the idea of natural selection (to which you are referring when you use the phrase "survival of the fittest") didn't actually develop for Darwin until AFTER he read Malthus' work. That's how important Malthus was to Darwin's idea and Darwin even writes about this in his notes. Malthus is one of the few people who just might have been crucial to Darwin developing his theory (the other may be Lyell).
I actually think that Darwin was remarkably successful in his work, regardless of the church, which is why we you are studying his work in this course! That said, I understand your point in the final section, though I suggest it was not so much success as it was "early" success. Some have argued, however, that by causing the delay (at least in part), the church forced Darwin to delay his publication to a time when it was actually better received than had he published 20 years earlier. Interesting idea to consider.
Other than those couple of points, good post.