Essay: The Evolving Beliefs on Evolution

All human cultures have developed their own explanations for the origin of the world and
of human beings and other creatures. These beliefs and explanations have evolved through time
with the continuous learning of man. Evolutionary concepts first appeared in early Greek
writings, for example, in the work of Anaximander and Empedocles. Anaximander proposed that
animals could be transformed from one kind to another, and Empedocles speculated that they
could be made up of various combinations of pre-existing parts. Although evolutionary theories
were prevented from developing due to the restraining influence of the Church, theories of
evolution began to emerge in the mid-16th century. These theories and ideas that were proposed
were limited to the knowledge and information available at the time.

In the 17th century, we believe was the first time a scientist carried out a thorough study
of the natural world. This scientist was known as the Englishman John Ray. His influences to
taxonomy was groundbreaking and historic with his establishment of the basic unit of taxonomy,
species. Aside from this, he also studied fossils but did not establish anything concerning this.

In the 18th century, these ideas on taxonomy were extended by scientist Carl Linnaeus. He
published a classification system called the “Systema naturae” and was the first to frame
principles for defining natural genera and species of organisms. He created a uniform system of
naming them which we refer to now as binomial nomenclature. Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte
de Buffon was an advocate of Linnaeus’ classification system and quietly helped asserting that
species can go through changes over time. However, he rejected the idea that species could
evolve into other species.

Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of the famous Charles Darwin, formulated one of the
first formal theories on evolution. He was aware that offspring inherited features from their
parents and that life on Earth could have descended from a common ancestor. Although Erasmus
believed in the original creation of life, he claimed that God did not take control from then on.
These ideas were not publicly accepted in England but in France, Jean-Batiste Lamarck was
formulating similar views. Lamarck’s model of evolution stated that individuals were able to
pass to their offspring the characteristics they have acquired during their lifetime. He also said
that simple ancestors turned into more complex ones over a large period of time. James Hutton
also made a significant contribution to the understanding of geological processes. He proposed
that the Earth constantly cycled through disrepair and renewal from observing the characteristics
of rocks and soil which as known as the principle of uniformitarianism. He was also the first
person to propose a mechanism of natural selection to provide evidence for evolutionary change
over time.

Then, in the first half of the 19th century, French naturalist Georges Cuvier developed his
theory of catastrophes. He established that after each series of catastrophes, new species had
been created because previous species have gone extinct. That is why Cuvier did not like
Lamarck’s proposal disagreeing that species did not go extinct, instead, they evolved into
another form. A geologist, Charles Lyell, also proposed that geological processes have shaped
the Earth’s surface, inferring that Earth must be far older that most people believed. He then
published the Principles of Geology.

Charles Darwin, a British naturalist, then proposed the theory of biological evolution by
natural selection with the help of another naturalist, Alfred Wallace. Wallace concluded that
animals that has been isolated at a certain place have developed variations in their characteristics
compared to those who come from another place. His ideas helped Darwin establish that there
are four principles at work in evolution, variation, inheritance, selection and time. First,
individuals of a species are not identical. Next, desirable traits are passed from generation to
generation. More offspring are born than what can survive and lastly, only the survivors of the
competition for resources will be able to reproduce. He used concepts developed by other
thinkers such as Lyell, Malthus and Lamarck when he developed this theory to provide coherent
explanations for his observations. His findings became the foundation of biological sciences.
With all that said, we can come to the conclusion that the theory of evolution we know
today is the collective effort of scientists around the world from different centuries. These ideas
led us to discovering more on how organisms function as an ecosystem and on their own.