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364
364 B.C Aristotle's Philosophy
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and was a student of Pluto and a tutor to Alexander the Great of Macedonia. He saw that there was a slight distinction between living and nonliving matter, and between plants and animals, and also between animals and humans. In his philosophy, all things strove toward perfection, evolving through many different processes. -
425
425 A.D Medieval Ideas
Evolution during medieval times was very uncommon because during that time period the Christian theory of special creation was the dominant theory. This idea argued that all living things came into existence in unchanging forms due to divine will. A few medieval philosophers theorized about some sort of teleological principle by which species might derive from a divine form. -
450
450 B.C Empedocles gives thoughts on Evolution
A Greek philosopher by the name of Empedocles was born in Acragas. He believed the universe was composed of four basic elements: air, water, earth and fire. These elements he believed were formed by two fundamental forces, called Love and Strife. Empedocles theorized that past natural selection is responsible for the forms we see today. He believed that natural selection was a past event, not an ongoing process. -
460
460 B.C Xenophanes Thoughts on Evolution
Xenophanes of Colophon observed fossil fishes and shells and later came to a decision that where the fossils and shells had been found on land had once been underwater. Xenophanes was known as the first person to ever use fossils as evidence for a theory of the history of earth. -
520
520 B.C Greeks Theories on Evolution
Many Greek philosophers argued that all living things originated from water or air. They also theorized that all things descended from one central species or principle. Greek philosopher, Anaximander of Miletus, wrote a text called "On Nature" which was an idea of evolution and said that life started as slime and eventually moved to drier places. He also believed that species evolved over time. -
John Ray's Book, Historia Plantarum
John Ray's book, Historia Plantarum, classified and described 18,600 different types of plants and gave the first definition of species based upon common descent. His book influenced Darwin because it classified and described many different types of plants making them different species of plants. -
Carolus Linnaeus Book, Systema Naturae
In the book Systema Naturae, Carolus Linnaeus described the physical appearance and method of reproduction of plants and animals. He related plants and animals by their degree in similarities and named them by using a binomial nomenclature. -
James Hutton's Theory of Uniformitarianism
The theory of uniformitarianism was originally created by a Scottish Geologist, James Hutton, who also announced that the natural forces currently changing the shape of earth's surface had been operating throughout time in much of the same way. -
Maupertuis Theories on Evolution
Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis wrote a book called, "Essai de Cosmologie" which introduced the concept that the stonger animals in a population have more offspring. This idea was similar to Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest. -
Erasmus Darwin's Beliefs of Evolution
Charles Darwin's Grandfather, Erasmus Darwin added to a theory that stated the use or disuse of parts could shrink or grow the parts of an organism. Also, that unconscious striving of an organism resulted in adaptation. -
Immanuel Kant's Thoughts on Evolution
Immanuel Kant speculated that each organism or species must have originated from one single ancestor source. He also had a quote that said, "an orang-outang or a chimpanzee may develop the organs which serve for walking, grasping objects, and speaking-in short, that lie may evolve the structure of man, with an organ for the use of reason, which shall gradually develop itself by social culture." -
"Philosophical Palingesis" by Charles Bonnet
A Swiss naturalist by the name of Charles Bonnet wrote a book called "Philosophical Palingesis". This book stated that the females of each organism contain the next generation in miniature form. He believed that natural catastrophes began evolutionary changes in organisms. Bonnet's idea of evolution was analogous to organisms climbing a ladder, with animals becoming smarter, pimates becoming humans, and humans becoming angels. -
Buffon's Beliefs
The French mathematician and naturalists Comte de Buffon believed that living things do change over time. In fact, in 1774 Buffon said that the earth must be at least 75,000 years old and that humans and apes are very much related. This adds to the theory of evolution because living things have changed overtime and there is more changes to come. -
Thomas Malthus' Theory on Evolution
Thomas Malthus' theory of population growth was what in the end inspired Darwin to create the theory of natural selection. Malthus believed that if a population produced more offspring and was overpopulated, it would cause disease, famine and starvation do to the amount of limited resources. -
George Cuvier's thoughts on Evolution
George Cuvier criticized Lamarck, but did not reject the idea of early life forms on earth. Cuvier turned out to be the first scientist to ever document the extinction of ancient animals. He was also a well-known international expert on dinosaurs. George theorized that catastrophes were sudden and violent. He also believed that any type of organisms living in an area where a catastrophe had occured would be wiped out completely. -
Lamarck's Ideas of Evolution
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck theorized that life changed over time by starting out simple and then becoming more complex. In 1809 he published, Philosophie Zoologique, which is explained in a two part mechanism including an idea that change was eventually introduced into a species and then passed down through generations. Lamarck also had is own theory of transformation or most times referred to as, Lamarckism. -
Lyell's Book, Principles of Geology
In Charles Lyell's book, Principles of Geology, he argued about earth's early formation and how it slowly changed overtime. Lyell believed like many other geologists that earth began and was shaped by unique catastrophes or rare natural events like Noah's Flood, which was belived to have shaped earth's surface. -
Gregor Mendel's Beliefs About Evolution
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian monk who famously expremiented with pea plants, which he would eventually resolve the laws of simple heredity. Mendel's mechanisms of inheritance laid the foundations for what is now modern synthesis. -
Alfred Wallace's Ideas of Evolution
Along with Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace was able to create a viewable, natural, and even observable way for life to change. It was a process called natural selection which is a process i nature in which organisms are able to posses certain genotypic characteristics to make them better adjusted to an environment allowing them to survive and produce more offspring. -
The Author of "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation" Was Found
A book titled, "Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation" was created by a man by the name of Robert Chambers. When the book was discovered however, there was no name on the cover. The book explained everything from how the solar system was created through plant and animal life, up to the orgins of humankind.
