Evolutionary doctrine. Its development from ancient times to the present

Evolutionary doctrine. Its development from ancient times to the present
Evolutionary doctrine. Its development from ancient times to the present
Anonim

Evolutionary doctrine is the sum of all ideas about the patterns, mechanisms of changes occurring in organic nature. According to him, all currently existing species of organisms originated from their distant "relatives" through a long change. It analyzes how individual organisms develop (ontogenesis), considers the development of integral groups of organisms (phylogenesis) and their adaptation.

evolutionary doctrine
evolutionary doctrine

Evolutionary doctrine has its roots in ancient times, where naturalists, philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome (Aristotle, Democritus, Anaxagoras…) expressed their assumptions about the development and transformations of organisms. However, these conclusions were not based on scientific knowledge and were purely guesswork. In the Middle Ages, there was a stagnation in the development of this doctrine. This was due to the dominance of religious dogma and scholasticism. Yes, inFor a long time, the creationist point of view was in the lead in the Christian world. Despite this, some scientists expressed their opinion about the existence of monsters, as evidenced by the finds of fossil remains.

In the process of accumulating facts in the 18th century, a new direction appeared - transformism, in which the variability of species was studied. Representatives of the doctrine were such scientists as J. Buffoni, E. Darwin, E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilervo. Their evolutionary doctrine in the form of evidence had two facts: the presence of transitional interspecific forms, the similarity in the structure of animals and plants that are in the same group. However, none of these figures spoke about the reasons for the ongoing changes.

And only in 1809 did Lamarck's evolutionary doctrine appear, which was

The evolutionary doctrine of Lamarck
The evolutionary doctrine of Lamarck

reflected in the book "Philosophy of Zoology". Here, for the first time, the question of the causes of changes in species was raised. He believed that because of the changing environment, the species themselves also change. Moreover, he introduced gradations, i.e. transitions from lower forms to higher ones. This evolutionary development, according to Lamarck, is inherent in all living things and comes from the desire for perfection.

Observations of the natural world led him to two main provisions, which are reflected in the law "non-exercise - exercise." According to him, organs develop as they are used, after which there was an "inheritance of favorable properties", i.e. favorable traits were passed down from generation to generation and in the future either their development continued or they disappeared. However, Lamarck's work was not appreciated in the scientific world until Charles Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" was published. Its arguments for evolutionary development made it very popular. However, this scientist was also a supporter of the heritability of acquired traits. However, the contradictions discovered were so serious that they contributed to the revival of Lamarckism as neo-Lamarckism.

evolutionary development
evolutionary development

Already after a long time, the research of biologists led to the fact that a synthetic evolutionary doctrine appeared. (STE). It does not have a clear date of origin and a specific author and is a collective work of scientists. Despite the fact that the authors had a lot of differences of opinion, some provisions were not in doubt: the elementary unit of evolution is represented by a local population; the material for evolutionary development is recombination and mutational variability; the main reason for the development of adaptations is natural selection; neutral traits are formed due to genetic drift and some other provisions.

Currently, a large number of scientists use the concept of "modern evolutionary theory." It does not require a single concept of evolution, and at the same time, its main achievement is the fact that s altational changes alternate with gradual ones.

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