Historical Influences on Charles Darwin


     Sir Charles Lyell was a geologist who theorized about changes to the
earth's surface over long periods of time. He was the first to popularize the concept that geological phenomena happened as a result of natural progression rather than supernatural circumstances. His concepts suggested that the Earth was much older than perviously thought. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sir-Charles-Lyell-Baronet
     Charles Lyell's contributions are most visible in Darwin's idea that "Individuals do not evolve. Populations do." Lyell popularized the concept that the Earth changed slowly over extended periods of time. Darwin rejected the ideas of Lamarck who theorized that learned traits were passed on to further generations, rather attributing the change to genetic variations among species refined gradually over vast periods of time. Lyell laid the groundwork for these ideas.http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/lamarck.html   
     Charles Darwin could not have developed his theory of evolution without the concepts laid down by Charles Lyell. Lyell not only described geological phenomena, but introduced the concept of gradual change without the intervention of supernatural forces. Without this introduced idea, Darwin very well could not have theorized gradual change in species on the Galapagos Islands.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin
     Darwin,  a devout Christian his entire life, had a moral quandary with the publishing of On the Origin of Species. The Church of England's response to his work was overall negative, sparking much debate in the intellectual community between scientists and followers of the church.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin

Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 8, 2018 at 8:14 PM

    I agree with what your opinion that being a dedicated and well known Christian could make sharing evolutionary ideas even more difficult, especially during that time period. Im sure many scientists of faith speculated and criticized Darwin's theory when he finally did share it.

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  2. Hominini StudentFebruary 8, 2018 at 10:22 PM

    Hello!
    I liked that you pointed our that Darwin was a devout Christian which made him very hesitant on publishing his theory of natural selection. I also agree that Darwin's theory of evolution was influenced by Lyell with the concept of gradual change. Without Lyell's theory, Darwin would not be able to solidify the thought that populations evolve instead of only individuals evolving as Lamarck thought.

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  3. L RodriguezFebruary 9, 2018 at 12:31 PM

    Okay on your opening description of Lyell's work, but what was the name of Lyell's key theory? And how did it work?

    Lyell didn't even agree that evolution occurred until much later in his relationship with Darwin, so I'm not clear as to how Lyell would have influenced the bullet point you raise. The closest bullet point that could be attributed to Lyell is the one on the influence of the environment, but even then, we should look more foundationally on Lyell's influence on Darwin. Before Lyell, it was generally accepted that the earth was only a few thousand years old. Lyell demonstrated that the earth was at least millions of years old (we now know it is billions of years old). So how does that impact Darwin? Well, natural selection is a slow process. It would not have been possible for natural selection to produce not only the extant organisms in a few thousand years but also all of the extinct organisms. With Lyell's concept of "deep time", suddenly Darwin had the geological time he for his theory to work. Lyell, quite literally, gave Darwin the gift of time. Without that, Darwin's theory would not have worked.

    I generally agree with your points in the next section, and it is well-worth noting the parallels between Lyell's ideas on geological change and Darwin's mechanism of biological change. We should also recognize that Lyell's concept of "deep time" was also very important. I usually don't like to grant any one scientist so much credit as to be indispensable to the work of another, but in the case of Lyell, I'm willing to do so, primarily because without Lyell, Darwin literally wouldn't have had enough time for his mechanism to work. Without Lyell, Darwin was stuck.

    Actually, once it was published, the response to Darwin's work was much more positive than anticipated, but this question is about Darwin's decision to publish, not what happened afterward. The church didn't know Darwin existed until after he published, though that doesn't mean the church didn't play a role in Darwin's decision to delay. Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. The question is, why? And how did the influence of the church play a role in this delay? What were Darwin's concerns? And was he only worried about himself or was he also worried about how his family might be impacted by publishing?

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