STSC Exam 1 Evolution and Society Questions & Answers Solved 100%

great chain of being - Answer a hierarchical structure that distinguishes all things linearly based on medieval Christian beliefs that God intended for such order to exist in his world. God is at the top, angels, planets, kings, nobles, commoners, animals, plants, stones, metals, elements. Before adopted by medieval Christians, probably derived from philosophers like Aristotle and Plato. The natural order was present in society in terms of class and status, with exemplary challenges to the concept being the French Revolution. fixity of species - Answer a creationist concept that proposes that organisms do not change over time because each and every specie is perfectly adapted (from God). Not scientific, because evidence in favor of evolution is far more vast than any evidence that supports fixity of the species. Carl Linnaeus, like many biologists of his time, accepted fixity of the species (unlike Georges Buffon). transmutation of species - Answer 19th c. theory preceded Darwin's theory of natural selection, Jean Baptiste Lamarck used the French term "transformisme" in his 1809 "Philosophie Zoologique" publication about Lamarckian evolution theory. Lamarck did not believe all things had a common ancestor, but rather that species were continuously created by spontaneous generation driven by an innate life force or fluid advancing in a linear pattern of complexity (related to the great chain of being). One species was altered into another, according to this theory. This fluid also changed with use and disuse for environmental adaptation. Cuvier disagreed with Lamarck theory and was with Aristotle, believing species immutable. evolution - Answer theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin that states that all species arise from a common ancestor, and develop or descend with modification through the natural selection of inherited variations that increase the individual organisms ability to engage in competition, live, and reproduce. These heritable traits better suited to the environment of a given organism, therefore, means those will survive and slowly produce these variations in offspring over many generations. This also leads to different species as beneficial mutations consolidate. great chain of being/fixity of species vs. transmutation/evolution - Answer disrupted class systems. principle of population (Malthus) - Answer key facts: overpopulation and competition in pop. and earth In "An Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798) by the economist Thomas Robert Malthus, he made two postulata (1) food is necessary for the existence of man and (2) passion between sexes is necessary and will continue with the baby makin result. He thinks they are fixed laws. Therefore, power of population ("geometrical ratio", ie. exponential growth) > power of earth to support it ("arithmetical ratio"). The lack of food acts as a check on population growth (perpetual states of hunger, disease, and STRUGGLE). Malthus did not believe in social engineering and thought men had to work to live. principle of population role in Darwin's theory - Answer key facts: overpopulation and competition applied to theory of evolution Darwin read Malthus's "An Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798) and was inspired by the idea of constant struggle born from the outgrowth of population surpassing growth of food supply. He applied this idea of struggle for existence to his theory of evolution. Of those humans struggling to live, there are some competitors that are better than others. Those that died had undesirable traits that were not carried on to further generations, unlike desired traits. Paley's argument from design the "watchmaker analogy" - Answer William Paley, an English clergyman and philosopher, in "Natural Theology" (1802) in the section titled State of the Argument," comes to the conclusion that all designs (in and of nature) must have a designer (in this teleological argument, God). The "watchmaker analogy" was first used in reference to a designer by Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle in 1686. If a watch made more watches like itself, in the exact same way, as God intended with his simple or complex design of everything for their purpose in life, specifically to live happy lives since God is benevolent. Rene Descarte and Sir Isaac Newton had a shared belief with Paley that the universe is comparable to a watch and that watchmaker is, indeed, God that is supported by the physical laws of nature and science.