Lamarck's Theory
Paper #1 draft 1
Sociology 100
2012-09-24
Lamarck’s theory
Before Lamarck, not even scientists and scholars have the idea of finding the genesis of life on earth. What was widely accepted at that time was that the world was created by God. Creatures acted in certain patterns as they were made to be. Also organisms were not considered to be changeable over time. Two hundred years ago, however, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (hereinafter referred to as Lamarck), raised the first theory of evolution which totally disputed this former cognition.
Lamarck, French zoologist, one of the founding fathers of modern evolutionary doctrines (E. Jablonka and S. Gissis, 2011), approached the evolution question after transferred to zoology field at his 50s and gradually found out that “creationism” was doubtful (Ralph F. Shaner). The book “Zoological philosophy” Lamarck published under the mentor by George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon in 1809 was groundbreaking for it fully developing his theory. It stated that “Every qualified observer knows that nothing on the surface of the earth remains permanently in the same state”. The book also proposed the idea of inheritance of acquired traits and use and disuse, believing that these are the reasons why biological mutation happens and the procedure of adjusting to the environment.
Inheritance of acquired traits
Inheritance of acquired traits means the passing on of characteristics acquired over the life of parents that transmitted to their offspring. (Otto E. Landman, 1991) The example given was that a giraffe was born with a short neck; however, in order to eat leaves from tall trees, it might gradually gain long neck over lifetime, and offspring of this giraffe would born with long neck instead of short one. In other words, the reason why giraffe has long neck is because its ancestors have strived to stretch their necks. [1]
Use and disuse
Use and disuse is another idea that aroused by the Lamarckian evolutionary, meaning the more a trait
Sociology 100
2012-09-24
Lamarck’s theory
Before Lamarck, not even scientists and scholars have the idea of finding the genesis of life on earth. What was widely accepted at that time was that the world was created by God. Creatures acted in certain patterns as they were made to be. Also organisms were not considered to be changeable over time. Two hundred years ago, however, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (hereinafter referred to as Lamarck), raised the first theory of evolution which totally disputed this former cognition.
Lamarck, French zoologist, one of the founding fathers of modern evolutionary doctrines (E. Jablonka and S. Gissis, 2011), approached the evolution question after transferred to zoology field at his 50s and gradually found out that “creationism” was doubtful (Ralph F. Shaner). The book “Zoological philosophy” Lamarck published under the mentor by George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon in 1809 was groundbreaking for it fully developing his theory. It stated that “Every qualified observer knows that nothing on the surface of the earth remains permanently in the same state”. The book also proposed the idea of inheritance of acquired traits and use and disuse, believing that these are the reasons why biological mutation happens and the procedure of adjusting to the environment.
Inheritance of acquired traits
Inheritance of acquired traits means the passing on of characteristics acquired over the life of parents that transmitted to their offspring. (Otto E. Landman, 1991) The example given was that a giraffe was born with a short neck; however, in order to eat leaves from tall trees, it might gradually gain long neck over lifetime, and offspring of this giraffe would born with long neck instead of short one. In other words, the reason why giraffe has long neck is because its ancestors have strived to stretch their necks. [1]
Use and disuse
Use and disuse is another idea that aroused by the Lamarckian evolutionary, meaning the more a trait