PreDarwinism Views essays

PreDarwinism Views essays Before November 24, 1859, many people simply believed that species were created by God in their present forms, or that it was possible for organic matter to be spawned from inorganic matter. However, Charles Darwin used these ideas to create his thesis, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. The first true theories on evolution arise during the classical Greek period. On a handful of Greek philosophers believed in the theory of evolution and natural selection. Unfortunately, the two philosophers who influenced western civilization the most, Plato and Aristotle, opposed any theory of evolution. Plato believed that there were two worlds, one real world, and one imperfect world that we perceive with our senses. Any variations in life were imperfect images of their ideal forms. However, Aristotle didnt believe in two worlds; instead, he believed in a scale of nature. Each life form was arranged on a type of ladder. It started at the bottom with the least complex organism and continued up to the most complex organism. Each organism had a pre-determined rung, which allowed no ability to move up, and no open spaces for a new organism to According to Neil Campbell in his book, Biology: Fourth Edition, Juedo-Christian culture fortified anti-evolution theories. (p. 400-401) The creationist-essentialist dogma that species were permanent and created for a specific purpose became deeply embedded in Western thought. Any person who dared to theorize or believe in theories about evolution were instantly labeled heretics. The medieval church saw evolution as saying that God did not exist, that we are not the supreme creation, and that humans could just However, in the later 1700s and early 1800s there was a scientific revolution taking place. People began to use scientifi ...