In the time period that Charles Darwin was completing the research that was necessary to support his theory of natural selection, the concept of species evolving to be better adapted for their environment was not a new concept. Several people, books, ideas and data that were available at the time strongly shaped his work, leading him to the conclusion that the origin of species existence and continued survival was directly related to the product of competition and natural selection.
After researching the many people who influenced Charles Darwin's life, work, and way of thinking, I now see that the most influential of the group was Thomas Malthus. In his book titled "An Essay on the Principle of Population," Malthus argued that "human populations grow faster than the resources that they depend on" (CK-12). Malthus recognized this as a problem because with the population of humans growing exponentially, and the amount of resources that humans need being produced only arithmetically, humans would soon run out of them completely, and perish as a result (CGGE). Malthusian economics laid the groundwork for Darwin's theory of natural selection. Limited resources force competition within a species and only those most fitted for survival would prosper.
From the bullet points listed under "How does evolution work," Malthus' work directly affected all of the first five. The first one, that highlights the Malthusian idea of exponential reproduction of humans, was indeed the starting point of Darwin's work as the bullet point information points out. The next two on the list, each having to do with the limitation of resources aim to answer the question posed at the bottom of the first bullet point; why is it that if species can reproduce exponentially, we are not witnessing them becoming dangerously overpopulated as Malthus predicted in humans? Darwin took the Malthusian idea that species reproduced exponentially and built on it to conclude that even though resources were limited, this limitation caused competition within the species and in turn created natural selection as an avenue to population control. In the next two bullet points which have to do with the idea that only the fittest will survive, it becomes extremely apparent that Darwin built off of Malthus' ideas. Organisms with better access to resources will be more likely to survive, and the ones that have the better access are able to do so because they are the most fit for survival. Using the Malthusian idea that if species could reproduce exponentially, Darwin reasoned that the only way the resources would not run out is if there was some sort of population control; natural selection caused only the fittest organisms to have access to the resources. Darwin's ideas did not contradict Malthus'. His ideas built on them and took them farther than Malthus ever did.
When examining the effects of Malthus' ideas on Darwin and trying to answer the question of if Darwin would have been able to come up with his theory of natural selection without him requires a few different things to be considered. The first of these is the fact that Malthus' book, "An Essay on the Principle of Population," inspired him and sparked his interest (All About...). Without Malthus' groundwork, Darwin possibly could have made a connection between the scarcity of resources and natural selection in species, but it is also possible that he couldn't. Another important thing to consider is that the ideas Darwin was proposing were both revolutionary and controversial in the eyes of the church and common man. Going against a theistic explanation for the natural occurrences he was witnessing and instead turning to science and observation of fact would have been seen as wrong. Without the groundwork that Malthus laid for Darwin, it is possible that he would have been discouraged from pursuing the idea any farther.
After Darwin published "On the Origin of Species," he received a great deal of backlash from various different directions. One of the most influential of these on him, both before he published his work and after, was the church. Before he published it, he "fully understood, and at times agonized over, the threat that his work might pose to traditional religious belief " (Masci). Darwin's theory on natural selection was no doubt in direct opposition to the views of the church, but he could see the writing on the wall in the form of observations that he had made in the real world. The attitude of the church made Darwin hesitant to publish his theory, however, he could see that the theistic explanation for the natural occurrences he was witnessing was not correct.
- Steven Moentmann
http://www.ck12.org/book/CK-12-Biology-Concepts/section/5.13/
http://cgge.aag.org/PopulationandNaturalResources1e/CF_PopNatRes_Jan10/CF_PopNatRes_Jan108.html
http://www.allaboutscience.org/thomas-malthus-faq.htm
http://www.pewforum.org/2009/02/04/darwin-and-his-theory-of-evolution/
Hello Steven,
ReplyDeleteI really liked reading your blog post. You pointed out a different person than I did, and I found it an interesting read. And you are definitely correct in that if an organism is not able to compete, then it will not survive, due to the limited resources available. And Malthus's theory can still be seen today, as ways of getting resources to people improves, so does global population. Natural Selection is directly built upon the idea of limited resources, and as you stated, it is likely the idea would not have been able to come to fruition without the idea of limited resources. The last paragraph of your post is also very well worded and gets your point across well; I struggled with that part myself. However, another point about as to why he decided to publish is that Wallace, his friend, was nearing the idea of natural selection on his own, and Darwin did not want to be "beat to the punch" so to say.