I believe the most significant
influence on Charles Darwin's thinking, undoubtedly came from the lawyer and
geologist, Charles Lyell. Charles Darwin who was a geologist as well as a
naturalist, was very inspired by the work of Charles Lyell, and admired it very
much. Charles Lyell's book Principles of Geology published in the
early 1830s, profoundly influenced Darwin. Lyell offered not just a new geology
but a new way of understanding nature. "Darwin's reading of Lyell's Principles
of Geology prompted him to think of evolution as a slow process in which
small changes gradually accumulate over immense spans of time"(1).
Lyell showed how tiny, slow, gradual and cumulative change over huge periods
of time can add up to produce vast mountains, deep valleys, and so on. This view
was known as uniformitarianism. Darwin had the opportunity to witness all of
these forces, such as erosion, earthquakes and volcanoes, during the Beagle
voyage and he became convinced that Lyell's views were correct.
Darwin's theory of evolution
lacked an unacceptable time frame until he embraced Lyell's concept of
"deep time", which is still presently one of the most significant
contributions to the discovery of evolution. "The
relationship between Lyell's work and Darwin's work foreshadowed an aspect of
human science still active today"(2).
Darwin, who initially trained to
join the church, was extremely fearful of the reaction to his book by organized
religion. In the fifteenth century the idea of anything outside of the biblical
belief and creationism was highly frowned upon, and considered a crime of
heresy that resulted in an unpleasant punishment. Darwin faced many challenges
in releasing his book, but by the time Darwin published The Origin of
Species in 1859, many Christians had already accepted the idea of an old
Earth.
You do a great job of explaining Lyell's work and how it influenced Darwin's. Well-written and clearly argued and I especially like how you pulled in how Darwin was benefited by the concept of "deep time".
ReplyDeleteGood discussion for the last point regarding the issue of the church.
I'm missing the 4th point on whether or not Darwin could have developed his ideas without Lyell. What do you think?
Other than that point, well done.
Professor Rodriguez,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the positive feed back! It is definitely appreciated. I should have gone more in depth with my statement that, "Darwin's theory of evolution lacked an unacceptable time frame until he embraced Lyell's concept of "deep time"... because what I was trying to say by that is that I believe that Darwin's theory wouldn't have really been possible without Lyell's theory of an old-earth. I apologize for not making that point more clear. My direct answer to that question would be no, because Darwin's theory is the slow process of evolution and without Lyell's time-frame, Dawrin's theory wouldn't have added up.
Thank you again,
-Lissette Salas
I agree. :-) Thank you for your response.
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