PreDarwinism Views

A detailed Summary of PreDarwinism Views

Before November 24, 1859, many people simply believed that species were created by

God in their present forms, or that it was possible for organic matter to be spawned from

inorganic matter. However, Charles Darwin used these ideas to create his thesis, On the

Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

The first true theories on evolution arise during the classical Greek period. On a

handful of Greek philosophers believed in the theory of evolution and natural selection.

Unfortunately, the two philosophers who influenced western civilization the most, Plato

and Aristotle, opposed any theory of evolution. Plato believed that there were two

worlds, one real world, and one imperfect world that we perceive with our senses. Any

variations in life were imperfect images of their ideal forms. However, Aristotle didn't

believe in two worlds; instead, he believed in a "scale of nature." Each life form was

arranged on a type of "ladder". It started at the bottom with the least complex organism

and continued up to the most complex organism. Each organism had a pre-determined

"rung", which allowed no ability to move up, and no open spaces for a new organism to

According to Neil Campbell in his book, Bi

he collected, were indeed separate species. This discovery led Darwin to theorize that if a

manipulating the results to meet their own needs. There really is not much more

that species were permanent and created for a specific purpose became deeply embedded

put faith in. According to Campbell, the first big step in the development of the theory of

So, as you can see, Darwin's disbelief in the notions that evolution occurred,

Approximate Word count = 867
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Science

join now Save Paper

Saved Paper

Save your papers so you can locate them quickly!

"Thank You So Much!!! You have saved me once again!!!"
Jack M.
"With so many papers to chose from, I was able to get ideas to help me with all of my classes. Thank You!"
Brian P.
"I've used this site for the last 3 years to help me come up with ideas for my papers."
Sara J.
"I use this site every week to help me write my own papers!"
Rachel W.
"I love this site!!!"
Marie N.