Throughout the beginning of the nineteenth century there were two similar and still contrasting ideas of how evolution came to be. Both Charles Darwin and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck developed their own theories. First, Lamarck developed the Theory of Inheritance. He believed that living things had developed into what they were due to their environment. Lamarck thought living organisms developed characteristics to better suit their environment, such as the giraffe, that he assumed grew a larger neck in order to reach the food needed to survive, up in the trees.
In turn, he figured that these more suitable characteristics were to be passed on to the next generation by inheritance to the descendants. He also assumed other characteristics would, over time, disappear if there were no longer necessary based on he environment. Lamarck ultimately believed it was possible that these developments, if taken place over millions of years, could result in the present day plants and animals. Darwin, on the other hand, developed the Theory of Evolution. The basis of this theory came from the known fact that no two living things are exactly alike.Furthermore, he theorized that as a result of natural dangers and limitations, more creatures were also born than could survive.
Thus, the idea of survival of the fittest, or natural selection, was born unto the mind of Darwin. Darwin rationalized that those with the best characteristics fit to live, were those who lived. Therefore, the living creatures with these characteristics were able to pass them on to the next generation. He believed that nature selected who could survive long enough to reproduce. Both theories are similar to one another, conceptually.
Both involve an organisms' characteristics playing a major role in their survival. The Theory of Inheritance and the Theory of Evolution both center around the idea that certain characteristics are suitable and those with c will survive more than those without. They realized this is how organisms evolved to what they are today. The living organisms present and living today are those that have the greatest assortment of characteristics suitable for living in their environment. While both theories developed from parallel concepts, both begin to diverge nto two different ideas of how organisms survived.
Due to the fact alone that Lamarck's theory came first would mean that Darwin's theory was more developed and refined. Darwin worked with the idea of Lamarck's theory, combined it with more research, and came up with a more probable theory. In Lamarck's theory evolution was controlled by the environment but also by the organisms, given that they had the ability to change their characteristics, whereas in Darwin's theory, evolution is solely up to the environment.He believed simply, that nature would have the decision on who is fit to live and who is not, and that those fit to live would pass on their favorable characteristics to their offspring.
The most dramatic difference is that, ultimately, one theory was incorrect, and the other is the one seen in every biology textbook depicted as the official theory of evolution. Lamarck's ideas were later proven wrong. Darwin's theory, however, became a part of modern biology and gave the first true insight as to how current plants and animals have evolved from common ancestors that inhabited the Earth long ago.
