Development of Scientific and Evolutionary Theory: Radical Ideas and Revolutionary

Theories
I. DISCOVERY AND RENAISSANCE:
By the 1400s Europeans found themselves at a new age of expansion and discovery also known
as the Age of Exploration and Heretics (1400s-1500s). Old philosophical ideas were
reinvigorated, and there was a renaissance of ideas and the creation of new works in the arts,
music and literature. This age was the period of exploration that led to the so-called discovery
of the so-called New World which of course was only new to people living in the so-called
Old World part of the earth.
This period of exploration and European expansion led to the discovery of new and strange
phenomena which in turn led to a keen interest and curiosity about natures variation and a few
early descriptive works on plants, birds, fish and mammals and other organisms and land forms.
Also, at the same time that crowns and churches funded missions to previously unknown (to
European) worlds, those charged with accumulating and recording these exploratory
observations started to question the underpinning assumptions of the status quo, in terms of
religion and politics in power in Europe.
One early European inquiring mind of this time was Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 to 1543), a
Polish/Prussian, who made observations about the physical properties of the stellar bodies and
the earth. Through his research he showed conclusively that the earth was NOT the center of the
universe and proposed a heliocentric solar system, and that the sun, not the earth, is at the
center. This was a very radical, blasphemous, and dangerous idea that seemed to challenge the
basis of the creation story of the bible. To really comprehend how established the idea of the
earth as the center was to our thinking, consider that we still refer to the sun rising and
setting even six centuries after Copernicus discovery.
Perhaps Copernicus was fortunate to die as his book on the subject (De revolutionibus orbium
coelestium, or On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) was published, sparing him the fate
of many radical thinkers. Perhaps nearing 70 he recognized his health failing and no longer
postponed its publication as a younger person might have done. To be fair, he was not the first
person to think of this revolutionary idea. According to Archimedes, Aristarchus of Samos (310
230 BCE) wrote of heliocentric hypotheses, but his publication did not survive until these times.

Plutarch, the great historian of classical times, wrote that Aristarchus was accused of impiety for
"putting the Earth in motion" which seems to corroborate the charge that he was a revolutionary
and radical thinker.
About a century after Copernicus, Galileo Galilei (1564 to 1642), an Italian physicist,
mathematician, astronomer and philosopher professed the belief that all matter consists of small
unchangeable atomic particles. This contradicted the prevailing idea that the bread and wine of
communion could be transformed into the body and blood of Christ. Although today most people
understand that transformation as metaphor at the time Galilei was consider a heretic. The Jesuit
priests pressured the Pope to do something about this dangerous fellow. In 1533, at the age of 69,
Galilei pled guilty to a lesser charge in front of the Roman Inquisition, that he supported the
Copernican heliocentric view. Catholics viewed this as false and opposed to scripture, but it
was less of a challenge that his atomic theory and he was spared being burned at the stake. In
1984 (four centuries later), Galilei received a full pardon by the Catholic Church.
On the fundamental ideas developed by Copernicus and Galilei, Johannes Kepler (1571 to
1630), Ren Descartes (1596 to 1650), and Isaac Newton (1643 to 1727) built and establish the
basic laws of physics, motion and gravity that are still held today.
In the late 1600s, an English naturalist and preacher named John Ray (1627 to 1705) coined the
term species and linked it to the term genera (plural of genus). Now naturally, as a preacher, Ray
did challenge the status quo of religious and political thought. He found a way to work within the
bounds of existing power structure by developing a classification system by which to organize
the biological phenomena that was known in the world. Ray adhered to the idea of fixity of
species which taken to its most extreme means that all the species that were ever created by
God exist in the world today and have never changed or gone extinct. Note that this idea is
diametrically opposed to the theories of biological evolution. Ray tended to stress the deliberate
outcome of a Grand Design (similar to what is today called Intelligent Design). His most
notable work was entitled Miscellaneous Discourses concerning the Dissolution and Changes of
the World (1692).
In the 1700s Carolus Linneaus (1707 to 1778) developed a standardized use of species and
genus to improve on Rays more sporadic use of the two names. Like Ray, Linnaeus also
believed in the fixity of species chose Latin (a dead language) for the binomial (two name)
classification system of (Genus species) and established the rule that no two organisms can share
a genera name or higher. He added the organization levels of kingdom class and order to
the system. He assigned humans to the Animal Kingdom and established races of humans. In
time both of these last two decisions proved to be very controversial. His most important works
were Species Plantorum (1753) and Systema Naturae (1735).
Binomial Classification and Taxonomy: Taxonomy is the branch of science concerned with the
rules of classifying organisms on the basis of evolutionary relationships. In taxonomy, the
system establish by Carolus Linnaeus, whereby genus and species names are used to refer
individual species of organisms is the convention. For example, the term Homo sapiens refers to
human beings. Anyone who discovers a new species must classify it and create a name that is
consistent with the Linneaus classification system. In all cases the genus must be capitalized and
the species is not capitalized. Also, both the genus and species must be written in italics. If one is
not able to use italics to distinguish this a proper scientific name, then they should be underlined.
This is not the case for the kingdom, class or order.
In the early part of the Age of Discovery, the predominant view of the world had been one of
stasis, the idea that the world was fixed and unchanging. The great chain of being idea held that
life was arranged from simplest to most complex. It was believed that the earth was full and
nothing new could be added. The world was seen as the result of a grand design - Gods design
(known today as Intelligent Design) and to this Ray added the idea of fixity of species, further
locking the system into a static never changing existence, which runs counter to everything now
known about the basic properties and processes of the biological world. Linnaeus also adhered to
the fixity idea and established a system of classification in the dead language of Latin to
validate the basic premise of stasis.
On the other hand, the Age of Discovery was tied to exploration as the European political and
religious empires expanded their territories by land and by sea. One of the significant parts of
expanding territories into inhabited areas is the idea of conquest. In order to justify these
conquests, people also demean the people in these territories through some form of
rationalization. One key mechanism for subjugation of other people was to develop a hierarchy
of human societies that put Europeans at the top. In this way, it was not wrong to conquer and
dominate, but naturally justified, their God given right and beneficial for the lesser human
societies who were being conquered and made into subjects of these European Crowns and
religions.
A big part of this mindset was the development of a racist and classist system organization
scheme. We will talk about this in more detail later, but keep in mind that some of this next
group of scholars, unlike many of the heretical thinkers of the past, believed they had God and a
superior sense of self on their side. Finally, it is important to note that by the 1700s and 1800s, a
much higher number of people in Europe (and also now in North America) were literate.
Therefore, these scholars ideas were informed by each others publications. In other words,
fewer people worked as solitary scholars without in the input of other peoples ideas and
observations.
II. EARLY DYNAMOS AND NATURE OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY:
This next set of scholars are different from the past because their research based on direct
observations let them to reach the conclusion that some forms of changes have occurred over the
geologic history of the earth. Therefore, the idea of fixity of species had to be modified at least,
and researchers and thinks have to account for the possibility that the processes that have cause
the earth and its life forms to exist may be dynamic and apparently some life forms profound
changes over time. These players contributed to the advancement of scientific and evolutionary
theory, even if some of their specific ideas were not necessarily proven right in the long run, but
because they were part of this dynamic journey.
The French natural historian Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) believed in
a dynamic relationship between external environment and living forms. He observed variations
in life forms that he deduced were based on local environment. However, he rejected the idea
that one species could give rise to another. He was responsible for a long time scale in earths
history and was founder of the field of biogeography. He also brought attention to many issues
related to evolution
Thomas Malthus (1766 to 1834) believed that variation occurred within species. He speculated
on methods of inheritance and the idea of acquired inheritance. Also he strongly argued that
limits to human population growth because tendency for populations to grow faster than food
supply; hence struggle for survival and the idea of the survival of the fittest. His paper, An
Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) was an extremely important treatise of its times and
inspired many later writings, such as those by Darwin and Wallace (see below). Although
Malthus model seems to work in nature with wild animals, and can be seen as a reasonable
factor in the explanation in the populations dynamics between organisms that are intertwined in
the food chain (i.e. shrubs, deer, wolves), it does not bear out in humans because of the
overriding adaptation of culture and the inherently human ability to override our instincts.
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck (1744 to 1829), French soldier and naturalist, was influenced by
LeClerc (Count of Buffon) and Malthus struggle for survival. He proposed a systematic
theory of evolution. Borrowing from taxonomic organization principles, he proposed that
organisms can be ranked, with humans at the top (of course). He formulated a dynamic
relationship between species and the environment, which he called the theory of acquired
characteristics. Lamarcks evolutionary theory specifies that organisms adapt to their
environment and then pass on these adaptive characteristics to the next generation. For example,
a giraffes neck grows longer as the food supply necessitates it. And then this longer neck is
passed on to next generation.
French naturalist and zoologist George Cuvier (1769 to 1832) strongly opposed Lamarcks
evolutionary theory and Cuvier established extinction as a fact. He also explained fossil record
as result of succession of catastrophes followed by new creation events (i.e. Noahs flood in
Genesis).
Charles Lyell (1797 to 1895), a British geologist, introduced the theory of Uniformitarianism.
According to this theory, geological processes observed in the present (i.e. gravity, volcanoes,
floods, earthquakes) are the same as those that occurred in the past. The theory of
Uniformitarianism is a fundamental premise underlying much of the natural sciences and is
crucial to hypothesis testing. His major publication was the three volume edition entitled
Principles of Geology (1830-1833) which outlined this comprehensive theory.
Uniformitarianism: The theory that the earths features are the result of long term geologic
processes that continue operating in the present as they did in the past. The theory was elaborated
on by Lyell, this theory opposed catastrophism and contributed strongly to the concept of an
immense geological time line.
III. TOWARDS AN EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
About the time that Lyells work was published, British born Charles Darwin (1809 to 1882)
began his historic voyage as the naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle Voyage, December 27, 1831.
The Beagle travelled around the world around the southern tip of the continents, from Europe to
the Americas to Asia to Australia to Africa and back to Europe again. Through his explorations,
and the records of his observations Darwin began to see the importance of biological variation
within a species and also the importance of sexual reproduction. By 1844 he had completed the
work he would publish fifteen years later Origin of Species (1859). An even more radical book,
Descent of Man was published in 1871. Like early scientific thinkers, Darwin was concerned that
his ideas would be view as blasphemous and he stalled their publication. It was only after
learning of the work of another scholar along the same lines as his that he was motivated to
publish.
Alfred Russel Wallace (1823 to 1913), self taught naturalist and anthropologist, travelled the
Amazon in Southeast Asia and to Malaysia. Like Darwin, Wallace arrived at the idea of Natural
Selection and began to correspond with scholars about his theory. When Darwin learned of
Wallaces work, it was agreed that they should co-publish their ideas in the journal of the
Linnaean Society in an 1858 paper. History has awarded Darwin more credit for the theory of
Natural Selection in part because he was more diplomatic in his writing style, and perhaps
because he was better connected as a gentlemen of class, rather than a self made man outside the
establish academy.
Natural Selection: The most critical mechanism of evolutionary change was first articulated by
Charles Darwin but co-published with Alfred Russel Wallace in the 1858 Linaean Society Paper.
Today natural selection refers to genetic change or changes in the frequencies of certain genetic
traits in populations due to differential reproductive success between individuals. In Darwin and
Wallaces day, it referred the power of environmental pressures to select for the fit organism to
sexually reproduce (propagate) and thereby to leave more of their off spring in the next
generation at the expense of organisms less fit. It is important to understand that they had no idea
about genetics as they developed their ideas. Ironically, at the same time of their publication a
priest named Mendel was conducting experiments with pea plants in a monastery that would lead
to our understanding of simple genetic traits and evolution. We will discuss this more fully in a
later lesson.
We jump to one final scientist who has guided this pre-genetics understanding of evolution, to
George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) an American paleontologist who is considered the
founder of the modern synthesis" of evolution. Gaylord supported Darwin's theory that
natural selection acting on random variation within populations driving force behind
evolution. He used mathematics and some genetics in his evolutionary account of paleontology.
He also noted that the key factors of evolutionary change were "tempo" (the rate of change), and
"mode" (the manner or pattern of change). His important works were Uniformitarianism in
Geology (1953) and Meaning of Evolution (1949).
Tempo: is the idea that we should explore the rate of change that happens in a sequence of
events. If the change happens quickly in a revolutionary or catastrophic way, it is considered
punctuated equilibrium. If change happens over a long time period, it is considered
gradualism.
Mode: is the study of the manner or pattern of change. Taking from Lyells idea of
uniformitarianism, we assume that processes are in play similar to those that have occurred in the
past. This is apparent in discoveries today, not only in the physical sciences on the earth, but also
in our observations and explorations of geological events on extraterrestrial worlds such as other
planets.