Unformatted text preview: evolution- is the hypothesis that life has an innate tendency to evolve in a unilinear
fashion due to some internal or external "driving force".
● Hereditary plasticity- (stuff you pass on to young can be molded)?
Teleology - ● “A teleological explanation is one that explains the existence of occurrence of something by
citing a goal or purpose that is served by the thing…”
● (from Daniel Dennett’s 1995 Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, p.24)
Charles Darwin (1809-
1882) - Voyage of the Beagle (1831-
● Noticed Geographic Variation
● Considered himself a geologist more than a biologist
● Took “principles of geology” by charles lyell
Charles Lyell - (1797~1875)
● Principles of Geology (elaborate on Hutton’s uniformitarianism)
Georges Cuvier- French anatomist
● 1769 – 1832
● catastrophism as explanation for variation of animals
Darwin’s Most important observation on his trip:
● Succession of fossil animals in South America
● Geographical variation in species
● Ocean Island species- Galapagos Islands
● Noticed adaptive radiation in finches
Darwin observed that:
1. organisms tend to produce more offspring than needed to keep the population size stable.
2. Population size stays stable...conclusion is a lot of death.
a. 1798: TR Malthus- idea of a carrying capacity
3. Variation is innate- Characteristics...
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