ANTH 2301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Edward Tyson, James Ussher, Evolutionism
Document Summary
Evolutionary theory: the world is extremely old, there has been gradual change and species slowly changing into other species. All life came from a common source the ocean: aristotle (384-322 bc) Performed dissections (not allowed at the time) 13th and 14th centuries: rationalism: reasoning alone can answer all questions, no observation. 15th and 16th centuries: renaissance: leonardo da vinci did animal dissections. 17th century: edward tyson did one of the earliest dissections of a chimpanzee. Discovered that they are more like humans than other animals. Archbishop james ussher (1650: determined when creation began using the bible, deduced that creation began 4004 bc, widespread belief that the world is static no change. 18th century: naturalism: humans are part of nature and governed by the same laws, linnaeus taxonomic classification, george louis buffon considered the first evolutionist. Jean baptiste chevalier de lamarck (1769-1832: catastrophism. The beleife that a series of catastrophes punctuates life on earth and world history: polygenesis v monogenesis.