There were many obstacles in the development of biology, some of which stemmed from the desire to juggle the facts under the divine origin of life. Such views resulted in classical and medieval transformism. This doctrine, which turned out to be a strong brake on the development of science, is a philosophical direction about the study of the origin of life. And at first his interpretation was different, close to anti-scientific. However, in modern times, transformism is identified with evolutionary theory and phylogeny.
Transformation in history
Transformism is a doctrine that has undergone many changes, although it almost always had a philosophical character, as it developed in the context of many religious movements. The first stage of transformism is classical, which has little to do with science. These are elementary ideas about the transformation of organisms, neglecting their variability. Strictly speaking, it was not possible to observe variability in humans, because it was impossible to track the appearance of new features in organisms simply because of the lack of time for observation.
Small organisms were completely unknown in the classical period of transformism, which is why there was a theory of spontaneous generation of life. For example, that in a dirty pile of laundry, lice or rats are born on their own. In this form, transformism was transmitted in the Middle Ages. This allowed us to move on to the second period of teaching, which is famous for its religiosity and anti-science.
The Speculative Period of Transformism
The doctrine of monads, which developed in the medieval period of transformism, underwent some change in the speculative period. In particular, some arguments of naturalists were accepted, which then described only the life cycles of organisms. Of particular interest then was the so-called ontogenetic transformism. This is the doctrine of the development of an organism from its birth to death.
In modern times, this interpretation has changed and covers the period of time from the conception of the organism to death. The speculative period of transformism, like the previous ones, is famous for its philosophical character, while there are few scientific facts in it. The merit of scientists of this period is the description of the life cycles of organisms, which made it possible to determine the variability in ontogeny. This also raised the question of the possibility of changes in the behavior and morphology of many other organisms.
Development of evolutionary teachings
Next stepin the development of transformism is evolutionary. It is as close as possible to science and developed thanks to such persons as Darwin and Lamarck. According to their ideas, transformism is a constant process of variability, which is caused by environmental factors, primarily natural selection. In this regard, the term acquired its new definition, which resulted in evolutionary theory.
It says that all organisms in one way or another originate from elementary life forms, and the latter constantly changed and developed over a huge period of time to the current life forms. However, such a doctrine as classical transformism denied this, because it was not easy for scientists to prove their theories. Since that time, a period of use of irrefutable facts began, which many scientists began to search for.
A typical example is the beak shape of the Galapagos finches, which was studied by Darwin. He pointed out that transformism in biology is the phenomenon of the transformation of one organism into another under the influence of external factors. In the case of the finches, this stimulus was the different type of food in the native birds.
Transformism and evolutionary theory
In modern times, the difference between transformism and evolutionary theory is difficult to trace, since the essence of the first concept has been greatly distorted and some conservative scientists have practically come close to the term evolution. However, transformism is rather a philosophical doctrine, which implies the transformation of one aspect or feature into another, but does not explain the reasons. In contrast, evolutionary theory shows that organisms inconditions of living together in a competitive environment are changing under the influence of natural selection.
In the environment, conditions are constantly changing, and this forces organisms to adapt. This does not mean that adaptation is transformation. Adaptation is the acquisition of new properties, and transformation is a change in the behavioral or eating habits of an organism that follows evolution. Therefore, evolution is the process of developing physiological characteristics and behavioral responses, on the basis of which the organism is transformed.
The very term of transformation in modern conditions should be reconsidered in this context. In this regard, it is necessary to use another interpretation. According to its provisions, transformism is a system of scientific ideas about the continuous change of organisms and their origin from an elementary organic molecule.
