April 16, 2015
- There were several scientists, writers, and friends that had a significant influenced on Charles Darwin's work, but in 1838 after reading an essay "on the principle of population" by Thomas Malthus, this would have a significant positive impact on Charles Darwin future work.
- Thomas Malthus contribution to the scientific community was his writings "Thomas Malthus wrote essays about populations and carrying capacities for the environment. Malthus was an economist and his ideas about overpopulation, disease, and the struggle to survive influenced Darwin". http://www.allaboutscience.org/thomas-malthus-faq.htm
- Third point from top would be in-line with Charles Darwin's own principles, "they recognized the important fact that when population size is limited by resource, availability, there is constant competition".
- Yes, in 1844 Darwin had already written a brief summary of his natural selection hypothesis but he felt that he didn't had enough data to support it his publishing. Another impediment that hold him back was his wife Emma who happen to have a very strong religious believes.
- As a member of the established order he feared that many of his inner circle friends and family members would be persecuted or single out.
It is okay to use quotes from your sources, but they should only be used to support your own writing, not as the entirety of your point. What does the quote that you have included in section #2 mean in your own words? And how does that relate to Darwin's work?
ReplyDeleteAlso, careful of your sources. The source you use is one of the questionable sources used on the "Bad Resources" page in the Blackboard course. Take some time to review those along with the "Good Resources" page so you know what to look for in good sources for your assignments.
Correct, Malthus can be given credit for the idea of limited resources, though I suggest that he didn't make the direct connection between limited resources and competition for those resources. That was a connection Darwin himself made. In addition to limited resources, Malthus recognized that populations tend to increase exponentially, which is what produces limited resources as resources only increase arithmetically.
Section #4 was looking strictly at the issue of whether or not Darwin could have developed his theory without Malthus, so no need to explore the issue of his wife, though that would have been an interesting addition to the final section. Darwin had some preliminary work completed on his theory by the time he read Malthus but was stymied over how to develop it into a cohesive idea. Darwin himself writes about how Malthus provided the key to this scientific puzzle:
"...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"
For your final section, it would have been helpful to expand on this idea. Yes, he had concerns for himself and for his family, but how did this impact his decision to publish? Darwin delayed publishing his work for more than 20 years and while that may have been partly to ensure that his work was sound and well-supported, there is evidence that he was also concerned how his work would be received given that it would likely be seen as an attack on the teachings of the church.
I appreciate your feedback and I'll do my best to follow your guidance and support. I'm concern about the "bad source" selection, I wasn't aware of that!
DeleteIt didn't really affect your post (or your score), but I do want you to be aware of this for future assignments. It is easy to get mislead on the internet.
DeleteThank you for the response.
It was actually very interesting to me to find out that Darwin's wife was very religious as you mentioned and I somehow missed that so that was very interesting to know.
ReplyDeleteBut I do agree with you on the downside of Darwin publishing his book. He knew that he would cause an uproar in the religious believers but wanted credit for his findings and theories.
This was a good person to choose for your blog! I think it's important to recognize that Malthus had written his essay on the principle of population before Darwin had formed a theory which shows his work was very influential to Darwin. Isn't it funny how Malthus talked about overpopulation? I wonder what he would think about the Earth's population size now!
ReplyDeleteI agree that Malthus's perspective of humans competing for resources was pivotal in Darwin's development of his theory of natural selection. Although economists realize that resources are limited while wants are unlimited, Darwin along with Alfred Russel applied this concept to all animals competing to reproduce and survive. I believe that Darwin was fearful of the church's reaction to his work which is why he delayed publishing his theory.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Malthus's perspective of humans competing for resources was pivotal in Darwin's development of his theory of natural selection. Although economists realize that resources are limited while wants are unlimited, Darwin along with Alfred Russel applied this concept to all animals competing to reproduce and survive. I believe that Darwin was fearful of the church's reaction to his work which is why he delayed publishing his theory.
ReplyDelete