1. I would agree that Thomas Malthus had the most influence over Charles Darwin and his development over natural selection. His theory was that things like dieses, warfare and the scarcity of food was necessary to control population size. This caught Darwin's eye and he added onto that with an evolutionary twist. Darwin said that the constant battle between the ones who are more and less likely to survive would have a constant change in the organism otherwise known as natural selection.
2. Thomas contributed by giving Darwin an added idea to his theories of evolution and natural selection. Darwin was already thinking of population and the role it played. He said that population would grow until it matched up with all of the existing resources and from there it would stay the same and not grow anymore. Malthus work helped Darwin get a better look on natural selection because he showed how two of the same species can be in competition.
3. The point that was most affected by is the one that states that our resources are limited because according to Malthus it is survival of the fittest and whoever wins gets those resources. Another point is that organisms with better access to resources will be successful in their reproductive efforts because those humans who are successful in achieving those resources can better provide for their family or anyone else.
4. I believe Darwin could have developed his theory without help because all of the others theories are just helping Darwin further his theories and add important points to them.
5. Darwin's theory went complete against what the church believed in and it was the opposite. It was hard for him to publish his theory because he would get so much backlash and it would be the center or debate from those who believed in god.
"His theory was that things like dieses, warfare and the scarcity of food was necessary to control population size."
ReplyDeleteThis is only a small part of his work and not the part that caught Darwin's eye. To understand Malthus and his influence on Darwin, you need to start with the mathematical concepts that drove his thinking. These two Malthusian principles are (1) resources grow arithmetically and (2) populations are capable of growing exponentially. That conflict between resources and populations is what creates the competition for resources. He noticed that natural populations of animals never seemed to overpopulate their available resources. It was as if some natural force was limiting their population size. He then compared natural populations to human populations and recognized that humans seemed to be lacking this natural force (whatever it was) and as a result, humans seemed to outgrow their available resources. Malthus argued that unless humans self-regulated their reproduction (he was a huge proponent of birth control), other processes, such as famine, disease and war, would be the natural result, forcing us to cut our populations via mass death.
Now out of all that, what caught Darwin's attention was the reference to that natural force that limited natural populations, and it made Darwin ask what was limiting the reproduction of those organisms. Malthus' emphasis on resources gave him the key... it was competition for those resources that limited population numbers. You are on the right track with the comment on the "constant battle" but this is about the battle for resources between diverse groups of organisms.
It's important to note that Malthus was strongly opposed to the concept of evolution, so he wouldn't have provided direct input on the concept of natural selection itself. He only accidentally provided the building blocks for Darwin to come up with it himself.
I agree with your point on "Resources are limited", but the other points isn't directly from Malthus. That was developed by Darwin after developing his theory and actually may get more influence from Lamarck than from Malthus. A point that you are missing is the first one, namely "All organisms have the potential of reproducing exponentially."
"I believe Darwin could have developed his theory without help"
No scientist creates with work without standing on the backs of those who came before them. But some people will have greater influence than others, and the influence was significant in Malthus' case. I usually don't like to grant any one scientist so much credit as to be indispensable to the work of another, but in the case of Malthus (and Lyell) I'm willing to do so. As you explain in the second section, Malthus' work was the logical foundation for Darwin's theory. At the time Darwin read Malthus' essay, Darwin had collected a mountain of specimens and data, but couldn't figure out how to put it all together into a cohesive theory. Malthus concept of resource competition was key. Even Darwin himself seems to indicate just how important Malthus was to his work in his writings:
"... it at once struck me that under these circumstances favourable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavourable ones to be destroyed. The results of this would be the formation of a new species. Here, then I had at last got a theory by which to work".
Charles Darwin, from his autobiography. (1876)
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
Google limited my comment, so I will finish it here:
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" he would get so much backlash"
Can you be more specific? During Darwin's time, "backlash" wouldn't mean death at the stake or under house arrest, but the church could still make his life difficult. And given that Darwin delayed publishing for more than 20 years, it is worthwhile to try to understand the reason for this extensive delay. What were Darwin's concerns? And was he only worried about himself or was he also worried about how his family might be impacted by publishing? Remember that his wife was very devout. How might she have been impacted if the church responded negatively to Darwin? Remember that scientists don't work in a vacuum. They can be influenced not just by academics but also by social, cultural and personal issues.