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Introduction to Charles
Robert Darwin:
Darwin
was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. As a kid Darwin seemed
really interested on living organisms such as the beetle. At the age of 16
Darwin’s father Robert Darwin decided to send his son to Edinburgh University
where he would study medicine. Darwin soon discovered that he did not liked
medicine because of his repulsion to surgery. Later his father sent him to the
University of Cambridge where he would study to become a clergyman; however he
seemed uninterested in that idea also as he kept doing poorly at school. Surprisingly
in Cambridge Darwin was able to find his passion when he was introduced to the
world of science by John Stevens Henslow his biology professor. Soon Darwin was
invited to the HMS Beagle voyage (1831) which was a five year traveled around
the world and in that trip was when Darwin started to come up with the idea of
evolution. Charles Darwin was a great contributor to psychology and to society
as a whole. He changed the way science
viewed the existence of humans in this world. Charles Darwin died on April 19,
1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does
knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so
positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”
1) Introduction to Thomas Malthus and Darwin’s
Inspiration:
Thomas Robert Malthus was born near
Guildford; Surrey in February 1766. As a kid Malthus was homeschooled by his
father; later on Malthus went off to Cambridge University and in 1805 he became
a professor of history and political economy at the East India Company's
college in Haileybury, Hertfordshire. Malthus was well known for his work The Principles of Population which was
publish in 1798. The work of Malthus in The Principles of Population was an
important and inspiring essay in the work of Darwin, since Malthus was arguing
about the of human population growth. Associated with Darwin, whose theory of
natural selection was influenced by Malthus' analysis of population growth,
Malthus was often misinterpreted, but his views became popular again in the
20th century with the advent of Keynesian economics. Malthus died on 23
December 1834.
2 2) Malthus Influence on Science
Thomas
Malthus was influential in political economy and demography since Malthus popularizes
the economic theory of rent. On his essay The
Principle of population Malthus observed that sooner or later populations die
either by Famine (Scarcity of Food) and disease. Malthus thought that if
population would of increase out of control then there would be dangers that
would prevent the progress towards utopian society. Malthus wrote: "The
power of population is indefinitely greater than the power in the earth to
produce subsistence for man".
3) Points Identified with Malthus
- All organisms have the potential of reproducing exponentially. Malthus proved that population can’t grow exponentially to their potential because population can increase in size, but the amount of resources (Food, Water, etc.) will stay constant making things unbalanced.
- What is preventing organisms from reproducing at their potential? Malthus proved that population will always be affected by famine and disease.
- Resources are limited. Malthus proved that one of the main reasons of controlled reproduction is because resources will always keep constant; therefore they will not increase.
- Organisms with better access to resources will be more successful in their reproductive efforts. No because Malthus proving resources constant will control reproduction of living things.
4)
Darwin’s
Work Based on Malthus
Darwin couldn’t have developed his theory
of natural selection without Malthus’ work because in Malthus’ work Darwin
discovered and recognized the important fact that when population size is
limited by resource availability, there is constant competition. This was a crucial
point, since completion plays a big role in natural selection.
5)
Church’s
Attitude on Darwin’s Work The Origin of
Species
The attitude of the church towards Darwin’s
work in The Origin of Species was not
positive because there was a mix-up between what church believe on the existence
of humans and what Darwin Presented in his paper. Church thought that Darwin
would just confuse the people but from a scientific perspective Darwin was
supported by many people and scientist. There was also a debate on what theories
were kids on school were going to be thought (Darwin’s theory or the Church’s theory).
It ended up being that schools were going to teach Darwin’s theory on human existence
because it seemed logical and it was scientific containing facts based on
observations.
Your blog was extremely informative, as I was greatly surprised to find out that even during the 1800's there were scientists that believed in what we do today, that population growth has to be a managed event, or the population would grow too fast for its own good.
ReplyDeleteIn reading more about Malthus, I was intrigued to know more about his philosophy and science in the fact that populations grow geometrically, yet food supplies arithmetically. This would highly support Darwin's theory of evolution, in that organism grow and continue based on survival of the fittest.
I look forward to reading more of your blogs, as you truly have been quite detailed and informative. :-)
Lots of good detail in your post.
ReplyDeleteOne important clarification. Malthus' conclusions referred only to human populations, not non-human. Malthus made careful comparisons between the two, noting that where non-human populations seemed to have natural limiting factors that reigned in their population growth (via limited resources), human populations seemed to lack these factors and were at risk of overpopulation, famine and disease unless they learned to self-regulate their reproduction. He was a fan of birth control, needless to say.
I agree with your first and third bullet points. They are directly attributable to Malthus. The second point is not something he was concerned with. He knew something was limiting non-human populations (he suggested limited resources) but he wasn't interested in the specifics, just that they were regulated in some way. He suggested that humans would suffer from famine and disease if and only if they didn't control their reproduction themselves. They were extremes that should be avoided if possible.
With regard to the fourth bullet point, Malthus didn't look at individuals to see if limited resources were affecting them differently. This bullet point doesn't apply to Malthus. It is a logical step Darwin took using Malthus' ideas as a starting point.
I tend to agree that Malthus may have been crucial to Darwin's theory. My opinion, but even Darwin mentions this in some of his writings.
During Darwin's time, there wasn't an issue with the schools. That is a modern issue. The question addressed the influence of the church on Darwin's decision to publish his theory. Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years. Why? What concerns caused him to wait so long?
Other than a few points, good first post. One suggestion: You may want to restructure your blog to allow for a wider test field. Less scrolling would be great!