The Evolutionary Thought of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Why His Original Ideas Should Be Taught in Classrooms
Por:
Noguera-Solano, Ricardo, Manuel Rodriguez-Caso, Juan, Ruiz-Gutierrez, Rosaura
Publicada:
1 ago 2021
Ahead of Print:
1 abr 2021
Categoría:
Education
Resumen:
The name Lamarck is very well known in the teaching of biology, being
associated with an early effort to explain evolution. Nevertheless, when
evolution is taught in the classroom, the only Lamarckian ideas that
stand out are related to the `inheritance of acquired characters',
invariably illustrated by the example of the lengthening of giraffes'
necks, as a way of contrasting Lamarckian ideas with Darwinian natural
selection. Our aim here is to argue that there are other important ideas
in Lamarck's work that are directly related to the origin and
transformation of species. These concepts, causal explanations of
organic nature, can be taught to students who are learning about the
sources and development of evolutionary thought and will moreover
provide the student with properly justified reasons as to why Lamarck's
explanation is considered to be the first wide-ranging and well-argued
explanation of biological evolution. The Lamarckian concepts that we
consider important for teaching evolutionary thought are the following:
(1) the species as an arbitrary concept, directly related to the
Lamarckian concept of the continuous transformation of species, (2) the
ancestor-descendant relationship, and organic diversification from a
common plan of organisation to a branching series, (3) gradual change,
related to changes in environmental conditions, and (4) the controversy
concerning the origin of life (that is, having either a natural cause or
a divine origin), life's transformation, and the natural origin of human
beings, including our moral capacity, subjects which were related to
Lamarck's other political and philosophical interests.
Filiaciones:
Noguera-Solano, Ricardo:
Noguera-Solano, R (Corresponding Author), Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Dept Biol Evolut, Fac Ciencias, Mexico City, DF, Mexico. Noguera-Solano, Ricardo
Manuel Rodriguez-Caso, Juan:
Noguera-Solano, R (Corresponding Author), Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Dept Biol Evolut, Fac Ciencias, Mexico City, DF, Mexico. Noguera-Solano, Ricardo
Ruiz-Gutierrez, Rosaura:
Noguera-Solano, R (Corresponding Author), Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Dept Biol Evolut, Fac Ciencias, Mexico City, DF, Mexico. Noguera-Solano, Ricardo
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