1. Thomas Malthus
2. Thomas Malthus was an economist who argued that as the population increased, the food supply and resources would not be able to keep up. Eventually, the population would level itself out due to famine and starvation. He argued that the only solutions were to raise the date rate or lower the birth rate.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/malthus_thomas.shtml
3. Malthus's work touches on multiple points, but most importantly are: resources are limited and organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts. Malthus proposed that the population was increasing at a rate that was too fast for the planet to sustain. This directly relates to the idea that resources are limited. Organisms with access to the most resources, however, have the best chance to reproduce and survive. This helped shape Darwin's idea that only animals with the best traits would survive and be able to pass down these advantageous characteristics. As a result, the population has now been changed and Darwin's theory of natural selection has taken place.
4. No, Darwin could not have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence of Thomas Malthus. Malthus provided the basis for Darwin's theory of natural selection. If a organism reproduces exponentially, the resources will eventually run out, and thus "survival of the fittest" will ensue. Malthus is the reason the idea that our planet could not sustain unlimited reproduction came to light. Without him, the notion that sources would deplete and famine and starvation would weed out the weaker organisms would not have been discussed. As a result, Darwin was able to create his theory of natural selection.
5. Charles Darwin was attacked by the church for his theory of natural selection. It went against the word of the bible and claimed that God was not in control of our world's organisms. Darwin's theory led to the implication that organisms were not created by God, but rather had evolved from other organisms and this was a direct conflict for many believers.
Hi I also wrote about Thomas Malthus. I strongly agree that without Malthus Darwin would not have been able to come up with a full theory. Without Malthus's ideas Darwin would have had half of a pie not the complete theory. Darwin and Malthus made the best tag team ever with the theory they came up with.
ReplyDeleteGood background on Malthus' work. I agree with your choice of bullet points and you walk your reader through the thought process to explain how Darwin used Malthus' ideas to develop his own regarding natural selection.
ReplyDeleteI always hesitate about giving too much credit to any one scientist (or theoretician) for their influence over another person's work. Are they really that indispensable? But for Malthus (and also Lyell), I actually do wonder if Darwin could have put all the pieces together without Malthus. Even Darwin seems to acknowledge the "light bulb" moment after reading Malthus' paper:
"...it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The results of this would be the formation of a new species. Here, then I had at last got a theory by which to work".
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
The response after publishing wasn't as bad as Darwin feared, but the question is about the time *before* Darwin published. Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. Why? What concerns did Darwin have? How did the church possibly play a role in this delay?
Good first post.