1.
One of Charles Darwin’s biggest challenger was
Georges Cuvier who denied the idea of evolution. Cuvier, the founder of comparative anatomy,
developed the idea of extinction as well as was adamant about “the fixity of
species.” Instead of staying in line
with Darwin, Cuvier came up with the idea of catastrophism, where the reason
things were so different in the past was not because we have evolved, but
because there was catastrophic events that completely changed Earth.
2.
The sixth bullet point says “If the environment
changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be
different.” The works of Cuvier negatively affected this bullet point as he was
sure God placed each species on Earth for a specific purpose and were
unchangeable. Cuvier completely
disagreed with the idea of evolution and the thought of traits being
adaptive. Also, the eighth bullet point
which states “in order for traits to evolve and change, the must be heritable”
was affected by Cuvier’s ideas. Darwin
based a lot of his opinion around the influences of Cuvier’s claims and what he
took out of Cuvier’s work. Cuvier’s
findings discovered fossils that were very much different than the bones of
humans and species today. And though
Cuvier came to the idea of catastrophism, Darwin approached the findings as
evidence to evolution and the idea of traits being adaptable and
heritable.
3.
Though I do believe Cuvier impacted natural
history and the development of the theory of evolution, Darwin could have
developed the theory of evolution without Cuvier’s impact as he discounted much
of Cuvier’s claims and theories. Many of
the findings and evidence Darwin encountered were similar to Cuvier’s, yet interpreted differently. I also believe the idea of extinction was
something Darwin as well as many other scientists could have developed on their
own using their own work.
4.
During the Middle Ages, the Church’s teachings
reigned supreme. Since evolution and
natural selection went against the teachings of the Church, the price for
“challenging God’s perfection” was high.
Darwin was threatened with being prisoned or even death. At first, Darwin was hesitant to publish. But soon, Darwin published his work
including the book, On the Origin of
Species, well aware of the high stakes.
Make sure you understand the time line. Cuvier's work came well before Darwin, so Cuvier would not have been influenced by Darwin in any way.
ReplyDelete"Catastrophism" isn't a theory about how the earth was changed but how organisms died off and arose. While he didn't believe in evolution, Cuvier recognized that there were non-living organisms in the fossil record and sought to explain what happened to them. Catastrophism, essentially mass extinctions due to environmental disasters, was his answer. He also tried to explain why there were organisms living now that didn't not exist in the fossil record. If he didn't agree with the concept of organismal change, how did he explain these new species?
Good choice of bullet point and good explanation.
I agree that while Cuvier had influence on Darwin, there isn't evidence sufficient enough to justify arguing that he was indispensable to Darwin's' work.
"Darwin was threatened with being prisoned or even death."
No. This was not Galileo's time. No house imprisonment or burning at the stake, but that doesn't mean Darwin's life couldn't be made uncomfortable and difficult from a professional, social or even a personal perspective. His science was his livelihood, so what would happen if other scientists refused to acknowledge is work due to pressure from the church? His wife was deeply religious. What might happen to his family if he published? Also, he didn't publish "soon". :-) It took him more than 20 years to publish his theory, and only after Wallace nearly beat him to it.