ANTHR 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte De Buffon, Georges Cuvier, Binomial Nomenclature
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People: aristotle 4th century bce, observed the endemic plant and animal life and concluded that all were fixed and could not be altered; this was the idea of immutability of species. He also believed that there was a hierarchy with humans fixed on top. This system of naming and classifying animals is called taxonomy. This idea was that all organisms adjusted to their environments and this trait would be passed on. He developed the idea of uniformitarianism, that the same geological process we observe today was operating in the past. Darwin built on this idea and applied it to animals. Concept of deep time: charles lyell (1797-1875, supported hutton"s theory and stated that if we look at older rock formations we will see older forms of life. Shook up the creationist world saying the only explanation for the earth"s history was ancient changes in geology, not the hand of.
