What is Darwin's theory? PLease help me...?

Question

i have a homework about darwin's theory and i do not understand it.
it is a biology homework for tomorrow.
questions; please answer them :S
1) what is darwin's theory
2)what were Lamarck's theory
3) compare the two theories
4)why were darwin's ideas initially met with a hostile response? (HINT: the church)
5) i must quote 3 sources of information that includes at least 1 internet site

that is what i have to do. i have to write a newspaper report. please help me :'(
thanks in advanced to those who do (:

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Darwin's Theory of Evolution - Natural Selection
While Darwin's Theory of Evolution is a relatively young archetype, the evolutionary worldview itself is as old as antiquity. Ancient Greek philosophers such as Anaximander postulated the development of life from non-life and the evolutionary descent of man from animal. Charles Darwin simply brought something new to the old philosophy -- a plausible mechanism called "natural selection." Natural selection acts to preserve and accumulate minor advantageous genetic mutations. Suppose a member of a species developed a functional advantage (it grew wings and learned to fly). Its offspring would inherit that advantage and pass it on to their offspring. The inferior (disadvantaged) members of the same species would gradually die out, leaving only the superior (advantaged) members of the species. Natural selection is the preservation of a functional advantage that enables a species to compete better in the wild. Natural selection is the naturalistic equivalent to domestic breeding. Over the centuries, human breeders have produced dramatic changes in domestic animal populations by selecting individuals to breed. Breeders eliminate undesirable traits gradually over time. Similarly, natural selection eliminates inferior species gradually over time.

Historical Background
In the years after his service during the French military campaign in Germany in the 1760s, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck studied medicine and botany. This led to a job at the Jardin des Plantes royal botanical gardens, which was soon reorganized into the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle. At the museum, Lamarck became the professor of invertebrates, where he coined the term "invertebrate" and succeeded in advancing classification of invertebrate animals. During this time, Lamarck published a variety of work on invertebrates, paleontology, physics and even meteorology, with his first writings on evolution finally coming to publication in the early 19th century.
Theory
In his book "Philosophie zoologique," Lamarck detailed his theory of evolution, which stated that organisms constantly evolved with each generation. He supplemented this claim by declaring two laws for evolution. The first law is that environmental change causes an organism to behave differently, thus resulting in use or lack of use of a given organ. Increased use causes said organ to grow while lack of uses causes the organ to shrink--a change that would occur over several generations. Lamarck's second law dictated that these changes were traits that were inherited from a parent organism.
Compared to Darwinism
Both Darwin and Lamarck believed that organisms evolve due to environmental change, and both even used the same evidence for their theories, like the variety of organisms that occur through controlled breeding and the presence of vestigial organs in animals. Darwin even accepted Lamarck's belief that such changes could be inherited.

However, Darwin hypothesized that natural selection was responsible for the proliferation of certain characteristics, while Lamark did not find natural selection to be very important, as he did not believe in the possibility of extinction. Rather, he believed in constant evolution into more complex forms, and that species only vanished because they had evolved into something else. As for a reason why simpler organisms like protists continue to exist, Lamarck attributed their presence to spontaneous generation.

So, the difference was that Darwin believed in natural selection and Lamarck did not believe that natural selection was that important.

Churches found Darwin's theory to be unacceptable because if his theory were to be true, that would mean there was no God. Did we evolve from monkeys? or is there a God?

I know, long!! but, I hope this helps you with your project :)

Source(s):

http://www.darwins-theory-of-evolution.c… - 33k -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptis… - 99k

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

WOW! thank you very muchh hehe :)
and to all of those who helped too, i could only pick one tehe :)
thanks again Stephanie :D x

Answer 2

1) Darwin's Theory: All life evolved from a single source and as proof he described intra-species evolution like the fauna on the Galapagos islands.

2) Lamarck's theory: This guy believed in something called soft inheritance wherein the individuals of a species were far more important that the whole species in generating intra-species evolutionary jumps. It proposed that individual efforts during the lifetime of the organisms were the main mechanism driving species to adaptation, as they supposedly would acquire adaptive changes and pass them on to offspring.

3) http://necsi.org/projects/evolution/lama…

4) They were radical for the time and they are still unproven. That's why we still call them a theory. The hostility was from the church but often it was a backlash. Science was supplanting spirituality and non-scientists keenly felt the loss.

5) http://necsi.org/projects/evolution/lama…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism

Answer 3

Darwin's theory was Natural Selection- The environmental (biotic and abiotic) select traits that give the organism the best chance of survival. Traits are created by random mutations that lead to different proteins.

Lamarck- first scientist to propose that organisms change over time and that species go extinct. His MAIN IDEA is the inheritance of acquired characteristics. (Changes to an organism in his life time can be passed on to future generations.

im not gonna do the rest for you cause it pretty easy. plus if you put any effort into trying to find the stuff i gave you then you would have found it. Dont be lazy.

Answer 4

Darwin's theory is based on natural selection where the fittest survive, what ever it takes to continue life ,a species or individual will adept to-the envirment and pass on genes making it a better Selection,,, the theory got into trouble with the bible because he says we are from evolution, meaning we came from apes, thus , if u believe in GOD, then u believe we were created from him, and not a monkey,,darwin was a naturalist, so he knew the basics of our plants and animals,,,

Answer 5

darwins- we evolved from apes
lamracks- organisms pass on knowledge they acquired to their offspring.
compare them yourself.
The church believe god created humans. separate from apes. this clashed with the church teachings and they threatened to burn him at the stake.

Answer 6

I only know Darwin's it is the theory of evolution witch is also why the churches didn't want to belive that we came from apes a.

Answer 7

Darwin is i think evolution.

Answer 8

go to wikipedia.
:)

Answer 9

1)Theory of evolution of Darwin
This point refers to the biological theory by Charles Darwin, the English Naturalist in his main work The Origin of the species, en 1859.

His theory was as follows:

Individuals display differences

Shortage of food leads them to fight for existence

Individuals with superior differences have more chance to reach adulthood, reproduce and transmit these variations to their offspring

From a philosophical point of view, the Theory of Natural Selection of Darwin base on the emergentism
2)Lamarck's theory of evolution appeared in his Zoological Philosophical Work written in 1809.

His evolutionary theory was as follows:

Environmental changes generate new needs

These needs determine the use or disuse of some organs

Such organs develop or are diminished

The acquired characters are hereditary

Therefore, this theory of evolution is also a theory of the human origin.

The famous expression for Lamarck's Theory of evolution is functions create organs and heredity determines the change in offspring. Therefore, human origin is the monkey thinking.

A typical example of Lamarck’s theory is the evolution of the necks of giraffes, due to the effort of eating leaves from the trees
3)As a contrast to Lamarck's evolutionary theory, Darwin's theory of evolution proposed natural selection as the basis of evolution and human origin.
4)Victorian society was assaulted by Darwin's suggestion that man descended from "some pre-existing form" in his book The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex published in 1871. The fact that the evidence implied we shared a common ancestor with the great apes was nearly intolerable. To add to this if we evolved from apes then there would be no adam and eve such as the bible would tell us which was met with great opposition from the Church!

Source(s):

http://www.starkeffects.com/darwin.shtml