Final Paper

 

Sydney Davis

5/4/2021

Final

            As noted in my midterm report, I decided to talk about Charles Darwin. A scientist who founded the idea of evolution and survival of the fittest. This man founded a lot of principles that really shook how people thought about religion and how they perceived the world as it was. Some interesting facts I had learned about during my midterm report showed that Charles Darwin was in fact inspired by other philosophers. So for my final paper, I decided to further talk about these philosophers who inspired him as well as how Charles’s impact on later philosophers.  

 

            One philosopher that had an impact on Charles Darwin was Jean Baptiste Lamarck. He was one of the first to propose the idea of evolution and really inspired Charles Darwin’s thoughts on natural selection. The only issue that Charles had with Jean’s theory, was that he didn’t account for adaptation which is ultimately how Charles’ theory was more correct. 

            Probably one of the most influential philosophers for Charles Darwin, was Thomas Malthus. Malthus was mostly intrigued by populations and how they grew. Darwin was fascinated by these ideas and would apply them to his survival of the fittest theory. 

            In my opinion, probably one of the biggest impacts that Charles Darwin has had on philosophy is the idea of a "professional philosophy" and created this sub branch of Philosophy of Biology. Where most of the topics introduced are on the idea of creationism and intelligence. Philosophy of Biology is something that is still being argued today. Michael Ruse is an author in today's time who has also looked int philosophy of biology and has written the book "Philosophy of Biology Today", where evolution is discussed and Darwin's impact on those ideas.  

             Another thing the Charles Darwin had a big impact on was Philosophy of religion. The idea of evolution has been refuted for years, and is still something that is argued in today's culture. In 1981, A Canadian scientist, Steven Scadding argued on Darwin's ideas that they were not proof enough for evolution. While other scientists do agree with Darwin's evidence towards evolution, it is still something that provokes thought and questions today.