History of Evolutionary Thought
History of Evolutionary Thought
Empiricists vs.
Rationalists
Bertrand Russell
à Teleological/Vitalistic -ultimate purpose; religion,
mysticism
à Empiricists: use of experimentation and
observation to understand physical phenomenon
à Mechanistic -physical explanation; science
& empiricism
* Aunt Tilly Analogy *
à Rationalists: proper use of logic precludes need
for experimentation and observation
Bertrand Russell
(b.1872 - d.1970)
History of Evolutionary Thought
Thales
Anaximander
Democritus
Aristotle
Desk Analogy -- Empiricists lacked
the instruments to prove their
observations.
History of Evolutionary Thought
à science resurfaces in the
Renaissance
à not Greek science reborn
à “Age of Invention”
à instruments to measure
phenomenon
Plato
Greek Science & Philosophy
à Thales & Anaximander: predicted the appearance of a
comet based on ancient Babylonian mathematical notes
à Democritus: ‘atomic theory’; indivisible particles
à Aristotle & Plato: proper use of logic precludes need
for experimentation and observation
History of Evolutionary Thought
Pre-Literate
Craftsmen
à Literate Craftsmen arise
History of Evolutionary Thought
Pope
Sylvester II
(945-1003)
William Harvey
(1578 - 1657)
Antonie van
Leeuwenhoek
(1632 - 1723)
Galileo Galilei
(1564-1642)
History of Evolutionary Thought
History of Evolutionary Thought
à heavenly orbs moved by
angels & cherubs
Be fruitful & multiply, and fill
the Earth and subdue it; and
have dominion over the fish of
the sea and the birds of the air
and over every living thing that
moves upon the Earth.
à Earth as center of universe
Sir Isaac
Newton
(Genesis 1:29)
! glimpse the mind of God
Western European Worldview --
! “Law of Inverse Squares”
Presumed mandate from God to go forth & conquer.
! universe as “lawbound system
of matter in motion”
Emmanuel
Kant
History of Evolutionary Thought
origins of the
solar system
à evolution in geology
à weathering, erosion
à extreme age of the Earth
Copernicus
nucleation
theory
flawed theory
early evolutionary
viewpoint
History of Evolutionary Thought
History of Evolutionary Thought
à evolution in Sociology
à Biology was one of the last
à population growth is limited by
disease and starvation
à list was lost at the Tower
of Babel
à “struggle for existence”
à survival of the fittest
Thomas
Malthus
Hutton & Lyell
à vital to Darwin’s
theory on
evolution
So out of the ground the Lord
God formed every beast of the
field and every bird of the air,
and brought them to the man to
see what he would call them,
and whatever the man called
every living creature, that was
its name.
(Genesis 2:19)
History of Evolutionary Thought
History of Evolutionary Thought
à “Great Chain of Being”
à attempted to determine
Adam’s naming scheme
à everything had a place -from inanimate matter to God
à branching tree/bush analogy
à placed in the Garden of Eden
à binomial nomenclature
à fixed and immutable
à degree of relatedness
à named by Adam
à Systema Naturae
Jonathan
Ray
Linneaus
! fossils??
! hybrids???
à overwhelmed by the sheer
number of new life forms &
fossils
Carl von Linné or
Carolus Linnaeus
History of Evolutionary Thought
Binomial Nomenclature
Kingdom
Subphylum
Class
Subclass
Order
Infraorder
Superfamily
Handy
Animalia
Vertebrata
Mammalia
Eutheria
Primate
Anthropoidea
Hominoidea
Family
Genus
Species
Subspecies
History of Evolutionary Thought
Hominidae
Homo
sapiens
sapiens
History of Evolutionary Thought
! published the first edition
of Systema Naturae in
1735
! 12 editions
! came to the conclusion
that Adam named the
families not species
! referred to species as
“daughters of time” by
final edition
Pneumonic
Kings Play C hess On Fairly Green Spaces
Benefits
à gives science a
common language
à shows nearness
of descent
Rules of Use
à capitalize genus
à lower case species
à underline or italicize genus/species