What facts support the evolutionary doctrine. The Evolutionary Theory of Charles Darwin (1859). Need help with a topic

Disputes about the origin of man have been going on for a long time. One of the theories, namely evolutionary, was developed by C. Darwin. This concept is the basis of all modern biology.

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Mistakes and

Evidence for Darwin's theory

According to Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection, humans evolved from apes. Traveling around the world and studying different types of flora and fauna, the scientist came to the conclusion that the world is constantly evolving. Living organisms, adapting to changing environmental conditions, change themselves. Having studied the results of research in physiology, geography, paleontology and other sciences that existed at that time, Darwin created his theory, which described the origin of species.

the idea of the evolution of living organisms of the scientist was prompted by the discovery of the skeleton of a sloth, which differed from modern representatives of this species in larger sizes;
Darwin's first book was a phenomenal success. During the first day, all the books in the circulation were sold;
the explanation of the process of the appearance of all life on the planet did not have a religious connotation;
despite the popularity of the book, this theory was not immediately accepted by society, and it took people time to appreciate its significance.

The main provisions of Darwin's theory

If we recall a school biology course, its distinctive feature is a peculiar approach to structuring materials. Species are not considered separately, but in such a way that one of the species is derived from the other. Let's try to explain what we mean. The basic principles of the theory demonstrate that amphibians are descended from fish. The next stage of evolution was the transformation of amphibians into reptiles, and so on. A natural question arises, why, then, are the processes of transformation not taking place now? Why did some species take the path of evolutionary development, while others did not?

The provisions of Darwin's concept are based on the fact that the development of nature occurs according to natural laws, without the influence of supernatural forces. The main postulate of the theory: the cause of all changes is the struggle for survival based on natural selection.

Prerequisites for the emergence of Darwin's theory

socio-economic - a high level of development of agriculture has made it possible to pay considerable attention to the selection of new species of animals and plants;
scientific - a large amount of knowledge was accumulated in paleontology, geography, botany, zoology, geology. Now it is difficult to say what data of geology served for the development of the concept of evolution, but in combination with other sciences they made their contribution;
natural science - the emergence of cell theory, the law of germinal similarity. Darwin's personal observations made during his travels made it possible to develop the basis for creating a new concept.

Comparison of evolutionary theories of Lamarck and Darwin

In addition to the well-known evolutionary theory of Darwin, there is another theory, the author of which is J. B. Lamarck. Lamarck argued that changing the environment changes habits, so some organs also change. Since parents have these changes, they are passed on to their children. As a result, depending on the habitat, degrading and progressive series of organisms arise.

Darwin refutes this theory. His hypotheses show that the environment affects the death of unadapted species and the survival of adapted ones. This is how natural selection works. Weak organisms die, while strong ones multiply and increase their population. The growth of variability and adaptability leads to the emergence of new species. To understand the overall picture, it is important to analyze the similarities and differences between Darwin's conclusions and the synthetic theory. The differences are that the synthetic theory arose later, as a result of combining the achievements of genetics and the hypotheses of Darwinism.

Refutation of Darwin's theory

Darwin himself did not claim that he put forward the only true theory of the origin of all living things and there can be no other options. The theory has been debunked many times. The criticism is that, under the condition of the evolutionary concept, for further reproduction there must be a pair with the same characteristics. What cannot be according to Darwin's concept and what confirms its inconsistency. Facts that refute evolutionary hypotheses reveal lies and contradictions. Scientists have not been able to identify genes in fossil animals that would confirm that there is a transition from one species to another.

A natural question arises, what had to happen in order for creatures that reproduced by laying eggs to begin to reproduce sexually? Thus, humanity has been deluded for a long time, blindly believing in evolutionary theories.

What is the essence of Darwin's theory?

Building the theory of evolution, Darwin was based on several postulates. He revealed the essence through two statements: the world around him is constantly changing, and the reduction of resources and limited access to them leads to a struggle for survival. Perhaps this makes sense, since as a result of such processes, the strongest organisms are left that are capable of producing strong offspring. The essence of natural selection also boils down to the fact that:

variability accompanies organisms throughout their lives;
all the distinctions that a creature acquires during its lifetime are inherited;
organisms with useful habits have a higher propensity to survive;
organisms multiply indefinitely, if conditions favor it.

Errors and advantages of Darwin's theory

When analyzing Darwinism, it is important to consider the pros and cons. The advantage of the theory, of course, is that the influence of supernatural forces on the emergence of life was refuted. There are many more disadvantages: there is no scientific evidence for the theory and examples of “macroevolution” (transition from one species to another) have not been observed. Evolution is not possible at the physical level, this is due to the fact that all natural objects grow old and collapse, for this reason evolution becomes impossible. Rich imagination, curiosity in studying the world, lack of scientific knowledge in biology, genetics, botany, led to the emergence of a trend in science that has no scientific basis. Despite criticism, all evolutionists can be divided into two large groups that speak out for and against evolution. They give their arguments, speaking for and against. And it's hard to say who's really right.

There is a debate in scientific circles on the topic: "Darwin abandoned his theory before his death: true or false?". There is no real evidence for this. Rumors arose after the statements of one pious person, but the children of the scientist do not confirm these statements. For this reason, it is not possible to reliably establish whether Darwin abandoned his theory.

The second question that follower scientists struggle with is: “In what year was Darwin’s evolutionary theory created?”. The theory appeared in 1859, after the publication of the result of scientific research and discoveries of Charles Darwin. His work "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Breeds in the Struggle for Life" became the basis for the development of evolutionism. It is difficult to say when the idea of creating a new trend in the study of the development of the world arose, and when Darwin formulated the first hypotheses. Therefore, it is the date of the publication of the book that is considered the beginning of the creation of an evolutionary trend in science.

Evidence for Darwin's theory

Is Darwin's hypothesis true or false? There is no definite answer to this question. The followers of evolutionism cite scientific facts, the results of studies that clearly show that when living conditions change, organisms acquire new abilities, which are then passed on to other generations. In laboratory research, experiments are carried out on bacteria. And Russian scientists went even further, they experimented with stickleback fish. Scientists moved fish from sea waters to fresh waters. For 30 years of habitation, the fish has perfectly adapted to new conditions. Upon further study, a gene was discovered that is responsible for the possibility of their habitat in fresh water. For this reason, to believe in the evolutionary origin of all living things or not to believe is a personal matter for everyone.

Ch. Darwin's theory of evolution

Introduction

Biography of Ch. Darwin

Anti-Darwinism

Conclusion

Introduction

For the first time, the term "evolution" (from the Latin evolutio - deployment) was used in one of the embryological works by the Swiss naturalist Charles Bonnet in 1762. At present, evolution is understood as an irreversible process of changing a system that occurs in time, due to which something arises. something new, heterogeneous, standing on a higher stage of development. The process of evolution concerns many phenomena occurring in nature. For example, an astronomer talks about the evolution of planetary systems and stars, a geologist talks about the evolution of the Earth, a biologist talks about the evolution of living beings. At the same time, the term "evolution" is often applied to phenomena that are not directly related to nature in the narrow sense of the word. For example, they talk about the evolution of social systems, views, any machines or materials, etc. The concept of evolution acquires a special meaning in natural science, where predominantly biological evolution is studied. Biological evolution is an irreversible and, to a certain extent, directed historical development of wildlife, accompanied by a change in the genetic composition of populations, the formation of adaptations, the formation and extinction of species, transformations of biogeocenoses and the biosphere as a whole. In other words, biological evolution should be understood as the process of adaptive historical development of living forms at all levels of the organization of living things. The theory of evolution was developed by C. Darwin (1809-1882) and presented by him in the book "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Breeds in the Struggle for Life" (1859).

Biography of Ch. Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, UK. Charles's father, Robert Warring, had a medical practice. He was the son of the then famous poet and scientist Erasmus Darwin. Darwin's mother, Susanna, gave birth to her husband's two sons (Charles was the youngest). She died when Charles was only 7 years old. 1818 - the younger Darwin enters elementary school. 1819 - Darwin moves to Dr. Betler's gymnasium. It is known that the future great scientist was not among the first students. The main subjects in the gymnasium were Latin, Ancient Greek and other languages, as well as literature. Showing very mediocre results in the study of humanities, Darwin is fond of the natural sciences.

He collected collections of minerals and insects, made herbariums. 1825 - Darwin enters the University of Edinburgh, intending (possibly at the insistence of his father) to become a physician. 1827 - after only two courses of study, Darwin leaves the University and enters Cambridge, intending to become a priest. Here he also did not achieve much success. At the same time, together with naturalists, whom he met while studying at the University of Edinburgh, Darwin collects marine animals and studies them. He visits communities of naturalists, takes an active part in them, reads a lot about nature. This is how the first scientific work of Charles Darwin appears, which, however, was not published. By the end of his studies at Cambridge in 1831, Darwin already had the status of a naturalist-collector. One of his friends recommended Charles to Captain FitzRoy, who agreed to take the young scientist with him on a trip around the world. 1831-1836 Charles Darwin circumnavigates the world on the Beagle.

This journey gave him the richest material for subsequent work. In addition to nature, Darwin makes observations on ethnography and anthropology. Shortly after Darwin's return, together with a group of other natural scientists, he published the book The Zoology of the Beagle's Journey. Having collected many collections during the voyage, Darwin was simply not able to process them all on his own, and therefore had to involve co-authors. This book includes the following sections: fossils and modern mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, insects. Darwin himself wrote a section on geology. 1839 Darwin moves to London and marries his cousin Emma Wedgwood. In total, ten children were born to Charles and Emma during their marriage. Three of them died at an early age, some others were sickly. Darwin explained this by the fact that he and his wife are closely related. This theory was reflected in some of the later works of the scientist. In the same year, the first edition of the Research Diary was published - a work that became the first in a series of many written based on the impressions and results of the trip.

In this book, Darwin addresses not only zoology and botany, but also political and ethnographic issues. In particular, he describes the plight of the South American Indians. 1839-1843 - during this period of time, five volumes of one of Darwin's most significant works, Zoology, are published. 1842 Charles Darwin's On the Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs appears. In the same year, due to poor health, the scientist moved with his family to the estate of Dawn (Kent). In addition, Darwin's first manuscript on the theory of evolution is dated 1842. 1844 - Darwin's study "Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands" is published. 1845 - the second, expanded, edition of the Diary of Surveys is published. 1846 - Darwin publishes another book called "Geological Surveys in South America". All recent works were written on the basis of research conducted during a round-the-world trip. In addition to the highly specialized works mentioned above, Darwin's book "A Voyage Around the World on the Beagle" was published in two volumes during the same period. The book captivated with interesting content and simplicity of presentation. Thanks to his work, Darwin became a famous scientist. The first half of the 1850s - Darwin successfully studies the subclass of barnacles, publishes several monographs on this group of animals. These works were of great importance for biology. 1858 - The first article on the theory of evolution appears in print. 1859 - The main work of Charles Darwin, called "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Breeds in the Struggle for Life", was published. 1868 - Darwin's second fundamental work on the theory of evolution was published, namely the two-volume "Change in Domestic Animals and Cultivated Plants". This book is usually regarded as a supplement to On the Origin of Species.... 1871 - Darwin's third scientific work on evolution is published. It was the book "The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection".

It was here that the scientist cited and examined in detail a lot of evidence for his theory of the origin of man from animals. 1872 Darwin publishes an addendum to his previous work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. During his life, Darwin received many awards from various scientific communities in Great Britain. April 19, 1882 - Charles Darwin dies at his estate, Dawn.

Journey on the ship "Beagle" 1831-1836

In 1831, after graduating from university, Darwin, as a naturalist, went on a trip around the world on the expedition ship of the Royal Navy, the Beagle, from where he returned to England only on October 2, 1836. The journey lasted almost five years. Darwin spends most of his time on the coast, studying geology and collecting natural history collections, while the Beagle, under the direction of Fitzroy, carried out hydrographic and cartographic surveys of the coast. During the journey, he carefully records his observations and theoretical calculations. From time to time, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, Darwin sent copies of the notes to Cambridge, along with letters, including copies of parts of his diary, for relatives. During the journey, he made a number of descriptions of the geology of various areas, collected a collection of animals, and also made a brief description of the external structure and anatomy of many marine invertebrates. In other areas in which Darwin was ignorant, he proved to be a skilled collector, collecting specimens for study by specialists. Despite the frequent cases of ill health associated with seasickness, Darwin continued his research on board the ship; most of his notes on zoology were on marine invertebrates, which he collected and described during calm times at sea. During the first stop off the coast of Santiago, Darwin discovers an interesting phenomenon - volcanic rocks with shells and corals, sintered under the action of the high temperature of the lava into a solid white rock. Fitzroy gives him the first volume of The Foundations of Geology. Principles of Geology ) Charles Lyell, where the author formulates the concept of uniformitarianism in the interpretation of geological changes over a long period. And even the very first studies carried out by Darwin in Santiago on the Cape Verde Islands showed the superiority of the method applied by Lyell. Subsequently, Darwin adopted and used Lyell's approach for theoretical constructions and reflections when writing books on geology.

At Punta Alta, in Patagonia, he makes an important discovery. Darwin discovers a fossilized giant extinct mammal. The importance of the find is emphasized by the fact that the remains of this animal were in the rocks next to the shells of modern mollusk species, which indirectly indicates a recent extinction, with no signs of climate change or catastrophe. He identifies the find as an obscure megatherium, with a bony carapace that, to his first impression, looked like a gigantic version of the native armadillo. This find generated great interest when it reached the shores of England. During a trip with local gauchos to the interior of the country to describe the geology and collection of fossil remains, he gains insight into the social, political and anthropological aspects of the interaction of indigenous peoples and colonists during the period of the revolution. He also notes that the two varieties of rhea ostrich have different but overlapping ranges. Moving further south, he discovers stepped plains lined with pebbles and mollusk shells, like sea terraces, reflecting a series of land uplifts. Reading the second volume of Lyell, Darwin accepts his view of the "centers of creation" of species, but his findings and reflections lead him to question Lyell's ideas about the permanence and extinction of species. On board were three Fuegians who had been taken to England on the Beagle's last expedition about February 1830. They had spent a year in England and were now brought back to Tierra del Fuego as missionaries. Darwin found these people to be friendly and civilized, while their compatriots looked like "wretched, degraded savages" in exactly the same way that domestic and wild animals differed from each other. For Darwin, these differences primarily demonstrated the importance of cultural superiority, not racial inferiority. Unlike his learned friends, he now thought that there was no unbridgeable gulf between man and animals. This mission was abandoned a year later. The fireman, who was named Jimmy Button (eng. Jemmy Button), began to live the same way as other natives: he had a wife and had no desire to return to England. In Chile, Darwin witnessed a massive earthquake and saw signs indicating that the ground had just risen. This uplifted layer included bivalve shells that were above the high tide. High in the Andes, he also found shellfish and several types of fossil trees that commonly grow on sandy beaches. His theoretical reflections led him to the fact that, just as when the land rises, shells are high in the mountains, when the seabed sinks, oceanic islands go under water, and at the same time barrier reefs form around the islands from coastal coral reefs, and then atolls. In the Galápagos, Darwin noticed that some members of the mockingbird family differed from those in Chile and differed from one another on different islands. He also heard that the shells of tortoises vary slightly in shape, indicating an island of origin. The marsupial kangaroo rats and platypus he saw in Australia seemed so strange that it made Darwin think that at least two creators were working simultaneously to create this world. He found the Aborigines of Australia to be "suave and nice" and noticed their rapid decline in numbers under the onslaught of European colonization. The Beagle is surveying the atolls of the Cocos Islands in order to find out the mechanisms of their formation. The success of this study was largely determined by Darwin's theoretical reflections.

Fitzroy has begun writing an official account of the Beagle's journey, and after reading Darwin's diary, he suggests including it in the report. During the trip, Darwin visited the island of Tenerife, the Cape Verde Islands, the coast of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Tierra del Fuego, Tasmania and the Cocos Islands, from where he brought a large number of observations.

He reported the results in The Journal of a Naturalist (1839), Zoology of the Voyage on the Beagle (1840), The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, 1842) and others. One of the interesting natural phenomena first described by Darwin in the scientific literature was penitentes ice crystals of a special form that form on the surface of glaciers in the Andes.

History of the writing and publication of "The Origin of Species"

From 1837, Darwin began to keep a diary in which he entered data on breeds of domestic animals and plant varieties, as well as considerations about natural selection. In 1842 he wrote the first essay on the origin of species. Beginning in 1855, Darwin corresponded with the American botanist A. Gray, to whom two years later he presented his ideas. In 1856, under the influence of the English geologist and naturalist C. Lyell, Darwin began to prepare a third, expanded version of the book. In June 1858, when the work was half done, I received a letter from the English naturalist A.R. Wallace with the latter's manuscript. In this article, Darwin discovered an abridged exposition of his own theory of natural selection. The two naturalists independently and simultaneously developed identical theories. Both were influenced by the work of T.R. Malthus on population; both were aware of Lyell's views, both studied the fauna, flora and geological formations of the island groups and found significant differences between the species inhabiting them. Darwin sent Wallace's manuscript to Lyell along with his own essay, as well as outlines of his second version (1844) and a copy of his letter to A. Gray (1857). Lyell turned to the English botanist Joseph Hooker for advice, and on July 1, 1858, they together presented both works to the Linnean Society in London. In 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, where he showed variability species of plants and animals, their natural origin from earlier species.

The main provisions of the evolutionary teachings of Ch. Darwin

The diversity of animal and plant species is the result of the historical development of the organic world.

The main driving forces of evolution are the struggle for existence and natural selection. Material for natural selection provides hereditary variability. The stability of the species is ensured by heredity.

The evolution of the organic world mainly followed the path of complicating the organization of living beings.

The adaptation of organisms to environmental conditions is the result of natural selection.

Both favorable and unfavorable changes can be inherited.

The diversity of modern breeds of domestic animals and varieties of agricultural plants is the result of artificial selection.

The evolution of man is connected with the historical development of the ancient great apes. The evolutionary teaching of Charles Darwin can be regarded as a revolution in the field of natural science.

Prerequisites and driving forces of evolution according to Ch. Darwin

In Darwin's evolutionary theory, the prerequisite for evolution is hereditary variability, and the driving forces of evolution are the struggle for existence and natural selection. When creating the evolutionary theory, Ch. Darwin repeatedly refers to the results of breeding practice. He tries to find out the origin of breeds of domestic animals and varieties of plants, to uncover the causes of the diversity of breeds and varieties, and to reveal the methods by which they were obtained. Darwin proceeded from the fact that cultivated plants and domestic animals are similar in a number of ways to certain wild species, and this cannot be explained from the standpoint of the theory of creation. This led to the hypothesis that cultural forms originated from wild species. On the other hand, plants introduced into culture and tamed animals did not remain unchanged: a person not only chose the species of interest to him from the wild flora and fauna, but also significantly changed them in the right direction, creating a large number of plant varieties and breeds from a few wild species. animals.

Darwin showed that the basis of the diversity of varieties and breeds is variability - the process of the emergence of differences in descendants compared to ancestors, which determine the diversity of individuals within a variety, breed. Darwin believes that the causes of variability are the impact on organisms of environmental factors (direct and indirect, through the "reproductive system"), as well as the nature of the organisms themselves (since each of them reacts specifically to the impact of the external environment).

Having determined for himself the attitude to the question of the causes of variability, Darwin analyzes the forms of variability and singles out three among them: definite, indefinite and correlative. A certain, or group, variability is a variability that occurs under the influence of some environmental factor that acts equally on all individuals of a variety or breed and changes in a certain direction. Examples of such variability are an increase in body weight in all animal individuals with good feeding, a change in the hairline under the influence of climate, etc.

A certain variability is mass, covers the entire generation and is expressed in each individual in a similar way. It is non-hereditary, i.e. in the descendants of the modified group, when placed in other environmental conditions, the traits acquired by the parents are not inherited. Indefinite, or individual, variability manifests itself specifically in each individual, i.e. unique, individual in nature. With indefinite variability, various differences appear in individuals of the same variety, breed, by which, under similar conditions, one individual differs from others. This form of variability is indeterminate; a trait under the same conditions can change in different directions.

For example, specimens with different color of flowers, different color intensity of petals, etc. appear in one variety of plants. The reason for this phenomenon was unknown to Darwin. Indefinite, or individual, variability is hereditary, i.e. persistently passed on to offspring. This is its importance for evolution. With correlative, or correlative variability, a change in any one organ causes changes in other organs.

For example, dogs with poorly developed coats usually have underdeveloped teeth, pigeons with feathered legs have webbing between their toes, pigeons with a long beak usually have long legs, white cats with blue eyes are usually deaf, etc. From the factors of correlative variability, Darwin draws an important conclusion: a person, selecting any feature of the structure, almost "probably will unintentionally change other parts of the body on the basis of the mysterious laws of correlation." Having determined the form of variability, Darwin came to the conclusion that only heritable changes are important for the evolutionary process, since only they can accumulate from generation to generation. According to Darwin, the main factors in the evolution of cultural forms are hereditary variability and human selection (Darwin called such selection artificial). What are the driving forces behind the evolution of species in nature?

Darwin considered the explanation of the historical variability of species possible only through the disclosure of the causes of adaptability to certain conditions. Darwin came to the conclusion that the fitness of natural species, as well as cultural forms, is the result of selection, but it was not carried out by man, but by environmental conditions. To the factors limiting the number of species (that is, causing a struggle for existence), Darwin refers to the amount of food, the presence of predators, various diseases and adverse climatic conditions. These factors can influence the abundance of species directly and indirectly through the goal of complex relationships. Mutual contradictions between organisms play a very important role in limiting the number of species. For example, germinated seeds die most often because they have germinated on soil that is already densely overgrown with other plants. These contradictions take on a particularly acute character when the question is about the relationship between organisms with similar needs and similar organization.

The scheme of action of natural selection in the species system, according to Darwin, is as follows:

Variation is inherent in any group of animals and plants, and organisms differ from each other in many different ways.

The number of organisms of each species that are born into the world is greater than the number that can find food and survive. However, since the abundance of each species is constant under natural conditions, it should be assumed that most of the offspring perish. If all the descendants of any one species survived and multiplied, they would very soon outcompete all other species on the globe.

Since more individuals are born than can survive, there is a struggle for existence, competition for food and habitat. This may be an active struggle not for life, but for death, or less obvious; but no less effective competition, as, for example, when plants survive drought or cold.

Among the many changes observed in living beings, some make it easier to survive in the struggle for existence, while others lead to the fact that their owners die. The concept of "survival of the fittest" is the core of the theory of natural selection.

The surviving individuals give rise to the next generation, and thus "fortunate" changes are passed on to subsequent generations. As a result, each next generation is more and more adapted to the environment; as the environment changes, further adaptations occur. If natural selection operates over many years, then the last offspring may be so dissimilar to their ancestors that they can be distinguished into an independent species. It may also happen that some members of a given group of individuals will acquire some changes and be adapted to the environment in one way, while other members of it, having a different set of changes, will be adapted in a different way; In this way, two or more species may arise from one ancestral species, provided that such groups are isolated.

Opinions of scientists about the theory of Ch. Darwin

Some scientists compared the impression of a book with a flash of lightning, which suddenly illuminates the road for a lost person on a dark night. Others - with a bomb that Darwin threw from his peaceful rural home into the enemy camp. In France, scientists treated the theory with contempt. German anti-Darwinists issued a lead medal depicting Darwin in an insulting caricature with donkey ears. The English geologist Sedgwick said indignantly that this theory was nothing more than a chain of soap bubbles, and ended his letter to Darwin as follows: "Now - one of the descendants of the monkey, in the past - your old friend . Since Darwin's teaching undermined the foundations of religion, reactionary scientists set the clergy against him. "Science and Christ have nothing in common" - such is the conclusion that Darwin himself made from his teaching. This explains the fact that Darwin's teaching met with furious resistance from all the reactionary forces of bourgeois society, and above all from the church. Already in the first review of the book "The Origin of Species" Darwin's teaching was criticized from the standpoint of theology, as fundamentally hostile to religion and irreconcilable with it. Darwin's materialistic theory of the origin of man caused particular malice among theologians and scientists of the old school. About one criticism, Darwin wrote to friends that the critic himself, perhaps, would not burn him at the stake, but he would bring brushwood and tell the black beasts how to catch him. Catholic priests organized a special academy to fight evolutionary doctrine, calling it "bestial philosophy . The abuse and contempt of ignorant people upset Darwin, but he did not answer them. He valued only the opinions of people he respected. Advanced scientists met Darwin's theory with great enthusiasm. The German biologist E. Haeckel wrote that, after reading this ingenious book, he felt how "the veil fell from his eyes . Young Professor Huxley was ready to "go up to the fire for a new idea. The path along which Darwin proposed to follow him seemed to him not by air from the threads of the cobweb, but by a wide bridge through which one could pass through many abysses. Engels noted that Darwin dealt a severe blow to idealistic ideas about nature, proving that the modern organic world is the product of a historical development that lasted millions of years. He compared the merits of Darwin in the discovery of the laws of development of nature with the merits of Marx, who discovered the laws of development of society. A Russian translation of The Origin of Species appeared in 1864. The spread of Darwinism in Russia coincided with the rise of the revolutionary movement, with the awakening of public consciousness after the Crimean War, with the spread of the ideas of the great Russian democrats N.G. Chernyshevsky, A.I. Herzen, D.I. Pisarev. And although here, too, there were attempts to turn the theory into "an incoherent pile of garbage , but with the help of numerous popularizers, Darwin's teaching became the property of a wide readership and was greeted with sympathy. DI. Pisarev called Darwin a brilliant thinker and wrote that Darwin talks about the laws of organic nature so simply and proves so irrefutably that anyone who reads his book is surprised that he himself did not think of such clear conclusions a long time ago. But the main fighter in this battle of ideas was Darwin's book itself. Years passed, and the teachings of Darwin overflowed with a stormy stream, sweeping away all obstacles in the way. Darwin was lucky during his lifetime to see the triumph of his ideas: not a year passed without him receiving some kind of award.

Anti-Darwinism

ANTIDARVINI ?ZM (from the Greek "anti-" - against and Darwinism), a group of teachings, in one form or another denying the leading role of natural selection in evolution. This category includes both competing evolutionary theories: Lamarckism, saltationism, catastrophism, as well as more or less private criticism of the main provisions of Darwinism. One should not equate anti-Darwinism with the denial of evolution as a historical process (i.e., anti-evolutionism). Historically, anti-Darwinism arose as a critical reaction to the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. These objections were most consistently and logically summarized in 1871 by St. Maivart in his article "On the Formation of Species":

) since deviations from the norm are usually small, they should not noticeably affect the fitness of individuals;

) since inherited deviations occur by chance, they must be mutually compensated in a series of generations;

) the accumulation and fixation of small deviations is difficult to explain the emergence of complex, integral structures, such as the eye or the inner ear. In addition, according to Darwin, transitional forms should be widely represented in nature, while more or less clear breaks (hiatuses) are usually found between taxa, which are especially noticeable in paleontological material. Darwin himself paid attention to these objections in subsequent editions of his work, but he could not explain them with arguments. Because of this, competing evolutionary theories such as neo-Lamarckism and neo-catastrophism arose in the second half of the 19th century.

By the beginning of the 20th century, numerous, often popular, mechanolamarckist works demonstrated the possibility of "adequate variability and inheritance of acquired characters." The first works of geneticists (H. de Vries and W. Batson) in practice proved the spasmodic, sudden nature of the occurrence of heritable changes, and not the gradual accumulation of changes under the influence of selection (the so-called genetic anti-Darwinism). Finally, many works have appeared that experimentally prove the "inefficiency" of natural selection. So, in 1903, W. Johannsen carried out selection in pure bean lines, dividing the seeds by size into three groups: large, medium and small. He found that the progeny of each group reproduced a full range of seed sizes, identical to the parent. From modern positions, this result is obvious - it is not the trait itself that is inherited, but the norm of the reaction. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, such works were perceived as a refutation of the principle of natural selection.

These circumstances led to the so-called. the crisis of Darwinism, or "the agnostic period in the development of evolutionary doctrine", which lasted until the 30s of the 20th century. The natural way out of the crisis was the synthesis of genetics and the population approach, as well as the emergence of a synthetic theory of evolution (see evolutionary doctrine).

The main results of evolution (according to Ch. Darwin)

Some animals have a threatening coloration in the form of bright scary spots. Many animals that do not have special means of protection imitate the protected in body shape and color (mimicry). Many of the animals have spines, spines, chitinous cover, carapace, shell, scales, etc. All these adaptations could appear only as a result of natural selection, ensuring the existence of the species under certain conditions. Among plants, a wide variety of adaptations for cross-pollination, the distribution of fruits and seeds are widespread. In animals, various kinds of instincts play a large role as adaptations (the instinct of caring for offspring, instincts associated with obtaining food, etc.).

At the same time, Darwin notes that the adaptability of organisms to the environment (their expediency), along with perfection, is relative. With a sharp change in conditions, useful signs may turn out to be useless or even harmful. For example, in aquatic plants that absorb water and substances dissolved in it over the entire surface of the body, the root system is poorly developed, but the surface of the shoot and the air-bearing tissue, the aerenchyma, are well developed, formed by a system of intercellular spaces penetrating the entire body of the plant. This increases the contact surface with the environment, providing better gas exchange, and allows plants to better use light and absorb carbon dioxide. But when the reservoir dries up, such plants will die very quickly. All their adaptive features, which ensure their prosperity in the aquatic environment, are useless outside it. Another important result of evolution is the increase in the diversity of types of natural groups, i.e. systematic differentiation of species. The general increase in the diversity of organic forms greatly complicates the relationships that arise between organisms in nature. Therefore, in the course of historical development, as a rule, the most highly organized forms receive the greatest advantage.

Thus, the progressive development of the organic world on Earth from the lowest to the highest is carried out. At the same time, stating the fact of progressive evolution, Darwin does not deny morphophysiological regression (i.e., the evolution of forms whose adaptations to environmental conditions go through simplification of organization), as well as such a direction of evolution that does not lead to either complication or simplification of organization living forms. The combination of different directions of evolution leads to the simultaneous existence of forms that differ in the level of organization.

Conclusion

The driving forces of evolution, according to Darwin, are hereditary variability and natural selection. Variability serves as the basis for the formation of new features in the structure and functions of organisms, and heredity reinforces these features. As a result of the struggle for existence, the survival and participation in reproduction of the most adapted individuals occurs predominantly, i.e. natural selection, the result of which is the emergence of new species. At the same time, it is essential that the adaptability of organisms to the environment is relative.

Regardless of Darwin, A. Wallace came to similar conclusions. A significant contribution to the propaganda and development of Darwinism was made by T. Huxley (in 1860 he proposed the term "Darwinism"), F. Müller and E. Haeckel, A.O. and V.O. Kovalevsky, N.A. and A.N. Severtsov, I.I. Mechnikov, K.A. Timiryazev, I.I. Schmalhausen and others. In the 20-30s. 20th century the so-called synthetic theory of evolution was formed, combining classical Darwinism and the achievements of genetics. As a holistic materialistic doctrine, Darwinism made a revolution in biology, undermined the positions of creationism and vitalism, rendered it in the 2nd half. 19th century a huge impact on the natural and social sciences, culture in general. However, even during the lifetime of Darwin, along with the wide recognition of his theory, various currents of anti-Darwinism arose in biology, denying or sharply limiting the role of natural selection in evolution and putting forward other factors as the main forces leading to speciation. The controversy on the main problems of the evolution of teaching continues in modern science.

theory evolution darwin anti-darwinism

List of sources used

1.Natural selection (Electronic resource): #"justify">2. Natural selection. Darwin's Theory (Electronic resource): #"justify">. Key provisions of Darwin's theory (Electronic resource): #"justify">. Ch. Darwin's theory (Electronic resource): #"justify">. Charles Darwin (Electronic resource): http://www.gumer. info

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Evolutionary doctrine is a set of ideas about the mechanisms and patterns of historical changes in organic nature.

The evolutionary doctrine affirms the continuity of the development of the entire organic world. The origins of evolutionary views date back to ancient times. The natural philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome (Democritus, Anaxagoras, Aristotle, Lucretius, and others) expressed thoughts about the development and transformations of organisms and made attempts to determine the driving forces of these phenomena. However, the conclusions of ancient thinkers were not based on systematic knowledge and were in the nature of conjectures.

In the era of the Middle Ages up to the 15th century, a certain stagnation took place in the development of the doctrine of evolution. This is due to the dominance of religious dogmatism and scholasticism at that time, which led to the preaching of absolute constancy in all nature (all species that once appeared as a result of the divine act of creation remain forever unchanged).

In the 15-18 centuries. in connection with the great geographical discoveries, there was a rapid accumulation of knowledge about wildlife. There was a need for their systematization. One of the creators of classical works on the systematics of the organic world was the Swedish naturalist K. Linnaeus (1707-1778). Being a supporter of the prevailing theory of divine creation and arguing that "each species is the offspring of one pair created by God at the creation of the world", Linnaeus nevertheless allowed for the possibility of limited speciation.

In the second half of the 18th century, evolutionary doctrine was further developed. In the works of C. Bonnet, J. Robinet, J. Buffon, various hypotheses about the development of nature were set forth, which played a progressive role in the development of natural science. An exceptionally great influence on the materialistic explanation of the laws of nature was exerted by the French materialists (Lamerty, Diderot, Helvetius), who rejected the idea of a deity. A well-known contribution to the development of evolutionary ideas was made by Russian scientists, A. N. Radishchev, K. F. Wolf, A. A. Kaverznev. In particular, A. N. Radishchev created a "ladder of substances" - from minerals to man, and did not find a place for a "creator" in it.

The first attempt to create a holistic doctrine of the evolution of living beings belongs to J. B. Lamarck (1744-1829). His work "Philosophy of Zoology" contains the main objections to the metaphysical idea of eternity and the immutability of species. The study of the diversity of animals and plants allowed Lamarck to suggest the presence of progressive evolution. Recognizing the possibility of inheriting acquired traits, Lamarck attributed only the active direct influence of the external environment to the factors determining the emergence of these traits.

J. Cuvier (1769-1832), using the comparative method in the field of anatomy and paleontology, received colossal factual material in favor of evolution and expressed ideas about the adaptability of organisms to environmental conditions and the interdependence of individual parts and organs within the body. Cuvier established the pattern of changing animal forms over time and showed that the closer to geological modernity, the greater the similarity between fossils and forms living on Earth. However, under the influence of the theory of the divine act of creation, Cuvier and his student A. de Orbinier tried to explain the problem of changing animal forms by the idealistic theory of catastrophes.
The 19th century was marked by serious discoveries in various fields of natural science, which enriched the evolutionary doctrine.

These include the works of C. Lyell in the field of geology, who rejected Cuvier's idea of the action of any special forces during various natural changes on Earth, the cell theory of T. Schwann (1839), which confirmed the unity of living nature, as well as fundamental research in the field. paleontology, biogeography, breeding, comparative anatomy. A significant contribution to the development of the evolutionary idea was made by Russian natural scientists K. M. Baer, K. F. Rulye and others.

Evolutionary doctrine - the doctrine of the successive historical development of living forms.

The main sections and directions of evolutionary doctrine that have emerged at the present time are: the origin of life; evidence for the evolution of living things; evolutionary factors - the relationship of the organism with the environment, variability and heredity, the struggle for existence and selection, the directions and patterns of the evolutionary process (speciation, organic expediency, progress and regression; phylogenesis of the plant and animal world, the relationship between ontogenesis and phylogenesis, etc.); management of evolution (artificial formation of new forms, impact on the process of speciation).

According to evolutionary doctrine, all living species of animals, plants and microorganisms arose by transforming pre-existing ones.

Species change and give rise to subsequent species, which in turn evolve into new species. Evolution determines the development of larger taxonomic units - genera, families, orders, classes and types.

Ideas about the origin and development of organisms date back to ancient times. The idea of the natural origin of living organisms was widespread in the ancient world. The natural philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome expressed the idea of the transformation of organisms and made attempts to speculatively determine the factors in the development of living forms. In the Middle Ages, during the period of feudalism, when religious dogmatism dominated, no new, any significant contribution was made to the science of the development of the organic world. The views of ancient thinkers were distorted in the spirit of religious ideas. For the entire period of the Middle Ages, a certain step forward in the development of ancient knowledge was made in the 11th - 13th centuries. mainly by the efforts of Arab scholars.

Modern natural science, as F. Engels pointed out, begins in the second half of the 15th century. with the birth and development of capitalist relations.

Economic progress and the transition to a new socio-economic structure, the development of crafts, the growth of trade, the great geographical discoveries, the search for new markets and precious metals stimulated numerous travels, accompanied by a huge accumulation of zoological and botanical material. Intensive creative work went on in all fields of science. The biological sciences were enriched with remarkable discoveries and new ideas.

However, before the beginning of the 19th century. in biology, views on living nature were dominated by idealistic and metaphysical views. The metaphysical worldview ascribed absolute permanence to organic nature. Number of species of all
animals and plants that once arose were thought to be unchanged, but with the development of natural science, the metaphysical view of nature increasingly came into conflict with new scientific data. In the middle of the 18th century ideas begin to appear that the organic world does not just exist, but is in the process of continuous change. Although the factual material testifying in favor of the theory of evolution was collected in its main features in the first half of the 19th century, the emergence of the idea of the development of organisms was prepared already in the second half of the 18th century. A number of philosophers and naturalists of that time expressed evolutionary views that contradicted the officially accepted dogma on the constancy of species.

A prominent place in the history of evolutionary teaching belongs to J. Vuffon (1707-1788). He developed the idea of spontaneous generation of organisms from the smallest organic particles, recognized the origin of various groups of animals from common ancestors, and allowed species to change over time under the influence of food and domestication.

The great French scientist J. B. Lamarck (1744-1829) is considered the first evolutionist. His "Philosophy of Zoology" (1809) represents the largest generalization of the accumulated biological knowledge and is an attempt to create the first holistic theory of evolution. Lamarck's teaching was coldly received by his contemporaries; it turned out to be revolutionary for that time.

However, under the influence of Lamarck's ideas, more and more scientists are taking the path of recognizing the evolution of organisms.

Another prominent French scientist, Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844), who attached great importance to the variability of animals to the direct influence of external conditions, was also a supporter of the idea of evolution. He believed that species change if the environment changes, and change insofar as the latter changes; species disappear naturally when their organization no longer matches the environment in which they live. It should be noted that in these views the idea of natural selection lies in its infancy. However, Saint-Hilaire did not create a harmoniously developed theory of the development of the organic world. In particular, the famous controversy with J. Cuvier (1769-1832), the greatest French scientist of his time, but a staunch supporter of the constancy of species and a defender of the biblical dogma about creation, ended unsuccessfully for him. The dispute was about the plan of the structure of animals. Saint-Hilaire, defending the far-fetched thesis about the similarity of the structure of cephalopods and vertebrates, tried to prove by this that the differences between animals are a modification of the unity of the organization of their structure. Convincingly proving that the organization of the structure of molluscs and vertebrates is significantly different, Cuvier thereby dealt a blow to evolutionary teaching, since the unified plan of the structure of Saint-Hilaire's animals reflected his evolutionary views on the blood relationship between animals of various systematic groups. Cuvier himself, despite his metaphysical views, objectively contributed to the triumph of the idea of evolution. He went down in the history of the development of biological sciences as a reformer of systematics, the founder of paleontology, historical geology, as one of the founders of comparative anatomy, that is, precisely those sciences whose success contributed to the substantiation of evolutionary doctrine.

The fact that all living beings are subject to constant variability and the higher forms originated from the lower ones was first proved by Charles Darwin (1809-1882), who dealt a crushing blow to metaphysical views. For the first time in the history of science, Darwin collected and brought into a coherent system of evidence in favor of evolutionary doctrine.

Systematics provided important prerequisites for the creation of a truly scientific evolutionary doctrine. The accumulation of vast material made it possible to state the fact of the variability of species and to conclude that the subordination of some systematic categories to others is the result of origin from common ancestors and the degree of divergence of each of them.

Morphology made it possible to establish that within each type of the animal kingdom there is a close similarity of the forms included in this type, which is explained by the unity of the structural plan. All forms have some organs of different function, but developing from similar rudiments. Organs that have a similar structure and position are called homologous. The similarity of the structure does not depend on the way of life of animals and can only be explained by the presence of consanguinity. But, although the unity of the plan usually does not go beyond the limits of the modern types of the animal kingdom, nevertheless, among living organisms, and especially among extinct organisms, there are so-called intermediate or composite forms. They stand, as it were, on the verge between neighboring groups, the signs of which are combined. The existence of prefabricated forms is valuable evidence in favor of evolution, pointing to a genetic relationship between neighboring categories.

In embryology, evidence in favor of evolutionary doctrine lies in the general similarity of the embryos of very different representatives of the animal world, which was pointed out by K. M. Baer (1792-1876) and other scientists. The similarity between embryos and larvae of animals that differ sharply in adulthood, Darwin explained from the point of view of development: a common structure is associated with a common origin. Researches in the field of embryology allowed Muller (F. Muller) in 1864 and Haeckel (E. Haeckel) in 1866 to formulate the biogenetic law (see) which plays an essential role at studying of evolutionary process.

Paleontology, clearly depicting the change of forms in time, provided no less important evidence of evolution. The closer to modernity, the more distinctly the similarity of extinct and living groups of animals appears.

Biogeography, the science of the laws of the distribution of organisms on the globe, also testifies in favor of the evolutionary doctrine. The faunas of the youngest zoogeographical regions, the Palearctic and Nearctic, are most similar, since their separation geologically took place recently. The longer zoogeographic regions were isolated, the more their fauna differed.

The data of all these sciences were already known to biologists at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, but only in the light of Darwin's teachings did they become evidence of evolutionary teaching.

The victory of Darwin's evolutionary theory was prepared by the entire previous development of the biological sciences, by the works of scientists whom Darwin himself considered his predecessors. Among them, Darwin named the Russian scientist - paleontologist Keyserling. Even in the most unfavorable period of the development of domestic science in Russia, there were bold innovatory thinkers who not only used the achievements of Western European scientists, but also in many respects overtook them. P. Goryainov, A. Kaverznev, Ya. Kaidanov, I. Pander, K. Roulier and others should be considered Darwin's predecessors.

According to Darwin, the mechanism of transformation of living forms includes two main factors: hereditary variability and natural selection, which is a consequence of the struggle for existence. "The struggle for existence" is a metaphorical expression, which Darwin himself emphasized. In the course of the development of the evolutionary doctrine, these provisions were further developed.

The modern theory of evolution of the organic world is based on a solid foundation of the theory of corpuscular heredity (see). The basic laws of inheritance of traits were first discovered by G. Mendel and published by him in 1866. However, they remained unknown to a wide range of scientists until 1900, the time of their second discovery. Darwin did not know about them either, otherwise he could easily refute the objections of opponents of the idea of natural selection about the "dissolution" of traits in offspring.

Mendel's work stimulated the development of genetics and formed the basis for constructing modern ideas about hereditary changes. Cytological studies have shown that the leading role in the phenomena of heredity is played by the chromosomal apparatus of the nucleus of a fertilized egg. It was found that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is responsible for the genetic structure of the nuclear apparatus.

Darwin considered hereditary variability as a factor in the evolutionary process that creates material for natural selection. Material interpretation of hereditary variability received in the light of the data of modern genetics (see), which was proof of the correctness of the ideas of Darwinism.

One of the leading achievements of the modern theory of evolution is the discovery and substantiation of the fact that the elementary evolving unit is not an individual or a species, but a population (see). In natural populations, however, a huge number of mutations are hidden.

Already at the present time, experimental biology has shown that the bulk of the evolutionary material is supplied by mutations that are well studied in terms of the nature and properties of various forms. They are the elementary hereditary changes that determine all known changes in the signs, properties and norms of reactions in organisms. In sum, they constitute the "indefinite" variability that Darwin put at the basis of the evolutionary process.

In the theory of natural selection, Darwin solved one of the wonderful mysteries of nature: the functional harmony and perfect adaptation of animals and plants to their environment. The evolution of species and their groups is carried out through the evolution of adaptations to environmental conditions, and the evolutionary process proceeds as an adaptive process. At the same time, it should be taken into account that groups of organisms that have embarked on the evolutionary path of specialization will continue to follow the path of ever deeper specialization. New groups of organisms originate not from specialized representatives, but from relatively primitive ones. The law of natural selection discovered by Darwin, in the words of K. A. Timiryazev, is the “essence of Darwinism”. It is the leading factor in organic evolution.

The process of speciation and the process of developing expediency is a consequence of natural selection - such is the material concept of Darwinism. Natural selection, according to Darwin, is a historical factor that explains the main features of the modern structure of the organic world. The problem of natural selection covers all levels of organization of biological matter: molecular-genetic, ontogenetic, population-specific and biospheric. But if Darwin could only provide indirect evidence of the existence and role of natural selection, then at present science has irrefutable, direct evidence of its real, creative role in the evolutionary process. All diversity of organisms has a single cause - natural selection.

Developing the theory of natural selection and collecting evidence that testifies to the processes occurring in living nature, Darwin was sure that the human race owes its existence to the gradual evolution of one of the trunks of the animal world, that is, it occurred in the same way as all animal species and plants. Darwin based his evidence on data from comparative anatomy and embryology. The paleontological data confirming his theory at that time were still poor, in addition, they were incorrectly interpreted, and serological data were not known at all. This proposition of Darwin's theory met with the most violent rebuff from all the reactionary forces in science, as well as from the church and the bourgeois state.

According to modern views, for 25 million years BC. e. in northern Africa lived monkeys - propliopithecus, which are considered to be the common ancestors of modern apes and humans. In the process of evolution, they gave two lines: one led to a common ancestor of the gibbon and orang, the other to forms called dryopithecus. The latter, who lived 8 million years BC. e., are the common ancestors of chimpanzees, gorillas and humans. Dryopithecus, widespread in the Old World, gave rise to one branch that led to the common ancestor of the gorilla and chimpanzee, and another that developed into the direct ancestors of man.

The oldest representatives of people are ape people. These include Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Heidelberg man and Atlanthropus, who lived approximately 1 million - 400 thousand years ago. According to their remains, the features of the first, most ancient, stage of the evolution of hominids are judged. The second, ancient, is known from the remains of Neanderthals who lived 100-200 thousand years BC. e., and is called the Neanderthal stage (Neandertal valley, at the mouth of the Düssel River, near Düsseldorf, Germany). The third, new, stage is represented by the remains of people, in their general physical type similar to modern ones, differing from the latter in a larger body length, a broad face and a rather low long skull. According to the place of the first discovery of the remains - the Cro-Magnon cave in France - the representatives of the new stage are called Cro-Magnons (40-25 thousand years BC).

A number of factors played a role in the development of man from ape-like ancestors. Man is qualitatively different from animals; the laws of development that explain the evolution of animals cannot be directly applied to him. In the course of the evolution of hominids, bipedalism and the brain progressively develop, differentiation of the structure and functional activity of the hands occurs, an elastic arch of the foot is formed and its final form appears. Various methods of mutual communication are intensively developing, including articulate speech. Many of the most important qualitative features of a person have developed in connection with the emergence and improvement of labor processes. Human ancestors can be called people only since they began to manufacture the first primitive tools. This moment of human evolution is a qualitative leap - the transition from the animal state to man.

Darwinism has withstood the test of time and continues to be a "single evolutionary doctrine" (K. A. Timiryazev), the main weapon of materialist biologists. Evolutionary teaching is continuously enriched with new ideas and reveals ever deeper patterns of development of life on Earth. This doctrine is not a system of frozen dogmas, but a system of views that develops as the knowledge of nature deepens; the evolutionary approach is characteristic of all areas of modern natural science. The process of evolution is complex and varied. The study of the ways and patterns of the evolutionary process is one of the leading tasks of modern evolutionary theory, which is currently a rapidly developing area of biology.

On the ground prepared by the evolutionary doctrine, new disciplines arose, approaching the problem of organic evolution from different angles: genetics, phylogenetics, ecology, evolutionary morphology, evolutionary physiology, etc.

Many outstanding representatives of world science worked on the development of Darwin's theory, which was highly appreciated by K. Marx and F. Engels. Among them are domestic scientists: A. O. Kovalevsky (1840-1901), V. O. Kovalevsky (1842-1883), V. L. Komarov (1869-1945), M. A. Menzbir (1855-1935), I. I. Mechnikov (1845-1916), I. V. Michurin (1855-1935), (1849-1936), K. A. Timiryazev (1843-1920), I. I. Shmalgauzen (1884-1963) and a number of others, as well as foreign ones: Huxley (T. Huxley, 1825-1895), Haeckel (E. Haeckel, 1834-1919), Wallace (A. Wallace, 1823-1913), etc.

The development of the problems of evolutionary teaching by domestic scientists has led to a number of major generalizations. So, in the field of evolutionary morphology, extremely important provisions were developed by A.N. Severtsov (1866-1936), who created the morpho-biological theory of the course of the evolutionary process and the theory of phylembryogenesis. In the works of A. N. Severtsov, his colleagues and students, such issues are also widely covered.

Evolutionary doctrine, as the ratio of progress and regression, the problem of form and function in their mutual connection in the evolutionary process.

After the publication of Darwin's teachings, many different theories of evolution have appeared that claim to be modern. However, it would be a mistake to consider Darwinism as one of them. Today, Darwinism is a modern science of the general patterns of the historical development of the organic world. Darwinism differs from all other theories in that the understanding of the process of evolution of the organic world is based on natural selection. This made it possible to materialistically resolve all the major problems of evolution, and that is why the evolutionary doctrine became a science only in the form of Darwinism (see).

The evolutionary theory of Ch. Darwin

Darwin for the first time, based on the theory of natural selection, gave a materialistic interpretation of organic expediency, showed its relative nature and revealed ways to develop adaptation. He showed that the fitness of species based on selection cannot be absolute; it is always relative and adequate only to those environmental conditions in which species exist for a long time. The adaptations of fish are useful only in the aquatic environment and are not suitable for terrestrial life; the green color of the locust is protective of green vegetation, etc.

C. Darwin believed that the emergence of new species occurs gradually, through the accumulation of useful individual changes that increase from generation to generation. The more significantly living beings differ in structure and physiological properties, the greater the number of their groups can exist in a given territory due to the weakening of the struggle for existence. With each generation, the differences become more pronounced, and intermediate forms that are similar to each other die out. The process of speciation, according to Darwin, occurs according to the principle of divergence, i.e. due to differences in characteristics.

Thus, the result of selection will be the emergence of adaptations and, on this basis, species diversity. Diverse, changing environmental conditions contribute to the evolution of species in the direction of complication of organization (mammals, insects). If species live for a long time in a homogeneous environment without fierce competition, then the level of their organization can remain at a relatively low level (lancelets). In constantly changing environmental conditions, some species, decreasing in number, must inevitably perish and give way to others better adapted to new conditions, as convincingly evidenced by paleontological data.

In conclusion, it should be emphasized that Darwin was the first to offer a natural-scientific explanation of the evolutionary process. He pointed to the driving forces of evolution: natural selection, hereditary variability, the struggle for existence. He gave a materialistic explanation of the mechanism of speciation and the reasons for the diversity of species, and also explained the reasons for the emergence of expediency.

The main provisions of the evolutionary teachings of Ch. Darwin

Darwin's evolutionary theory is a holistic doctrine of the historical development of the organic world. It covers a wide range of problems, the most important of which are evidence of evolution, identification of the driving forces of evolution, determination of the paths and patterns of the evolutionary process, etc.

The essence of evolutionary teaching lies in the following basic provisions:

1. All kinds of living beings inhabiting the Earth have never been created by someone.

2. Having arisen naturally, organic forms were slowly and gradually transformed and improved in accordance with environmental conditions.

3. The transformation of species in nature is based on such properties of organisms as variability and heredity, as well as natural selection constantly occurring in nature. Natural selection is carried out through the complex interaction of organisms with each other and with factors of inanimate nature; this relationship Darwin called the struggle for existence.

4. The result of evolution is the adaptability of organisms to the conditions of their habitat and the diversity of species in nature.

4. The main results of evolution according to Ch. Darwin.

The main result of evolution is the improvement of the adaptability of organisms to living conditions, which entails the improvement of their organization. As a result of the action of natural selection, individuals with traits useful for their prosperity are preserved. Darwin gives a lot of evidence for the increase in the fitness of organisms due to natural selection. This, for example, is widespread among animals of a protective color (the color of the area in which animals live, or the color of individual objects. Many animals that have special protective devices against being eaten by other animals also have a warning color (for example, poisonous or inedible animals).In some animals, a threatening coloration is common in the form of bright scaring spots.Many animals that do not have special means of protection imitate protected predators in body shape and color (mimicry).Many of the animals have needles, spines, chitinous cover, shell, shell, scales, etc. All these adaptations could appear only as a result of natural selection, ensuring the existence of the species under certain conditions.Among plants, a wide variety of adaptations for cross-pollination, the distribution of fruits and seeds are widespread.Animals have a large role in quality adaptations play a different kind of instinct s (the instinct of caring for offspring, the instincts associated with obtaining food, etc.).

At the same time, Darwin notes that the adaptability of organisms to the environment - their expediency, along with perfection, is relative. With a sharp change in conditions, useful signs may turn out to be useless or even harmful. For example, in aquatic plants that absorb water and substances dissolved in it over the entire surface of the body, the root system is poorly developed, but the surface of the shoot and the air-bearing tissue - aerenchyma, are well developed, formed by a system of intercellular connections that permeate the entire body of the plant. This increases the contact surface with the environment, providing better gas exchange, and allows plants to better use light and absorb carbon dioxide. But when the reservoir dries up, such plants will die very quickly. All their adaptive features, which ensure their prosperity in the aquatic environment, are useless outside this environment.

Another important result of evolution is the increase in the diversity of types of natural groups, i.e. systematic differentiation of species. The general increase in the diversity of organic forms greatly complicates the relationships that arise between organisms in nature. Therefore, in the course of historical development, as a rule, the most highly organized forms receive the greatest advantage. Thus, the progressive development of the organic world on Earth from lower to higher forms is carried out. At the same time, stating the fact of progressive evolution, Darwin does not deny morphophysiological regression (i.e., the evolution of forms whose adaptations to environmental conditions go through simplification of organization), as well as such a direction of evolution that does not lead to either complication or simplification of organization living forms. The combination of different directions of evolution leads to the simultaneous existence of forms that differ in the level of organization.

Consequently, for the evolution of the existence of various forms of living matter, both progression and regression are inherent, aimed at achieving the goal - the improvement of forms, through adaptation to changing environmental conditions.

Phylogeny (from the Greek Phyle - genus, tribe and genesis - birth, origin), denotes a gradual change in various forms of the organic world in the process of evolution.

Ontogeny is the development of an individual as opposed to the development of a species (phylogenesis).

Thus, the driving forces of evolution, according to Darwin, are hereditary variability and natural selection. Variability serves as the basis for the formation of new features in the structure and functions of organisms, and heredity reinforces these features. As a result of the struggle for existence, the survival and participation in reproduction of the most adapted individuals occurs predominantly, i.e. natural selection, the result of which is the emergence of new species. At the same time, it is essential that the adaptability of organisms to the environment is relative.

As a holistic materialistic doctrine, Darwinism made a revolution in biology, had in the 2nd floor. 19th century a huge impact on the natural and social sciences, culture in general. However, even during the lifetime of Darwin, along with the wide recognition of his theory, various currents of anti-Darwinism arose in biology, denying or sharply limiting the role of natural selection in evolution and putting forward other factors as the main forces leading to speciation. The controversy on the main problems of the evolution of teaching continues in modern science. Modern biology has departed far not only from the classical Darwinism of the second half of the 19th century, but also from a number of provisions of the synthetic theory of evolution. At the same time, there is no doubt that the main path of development of evolutionary biology lies in the mainstream of those ideas and those directions that were laid down by Charles Darwin.

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Life and works of Ch. Darwin. Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in the family of a doctor. While studying at the Universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge, Darwin gained a thorough knowledge of zoology, botany and geology, skills and a taste for field research. An important role in shaping his scientific outlook was played by the book of the outstanding English geologist Charles Lyell "Principles of Geology". Lyell argued that the modern appearance of the Earth took shape gradually under the influence of the same natural forces that are active at the present time. Darwin was familiar with the evolutionary ideas of Erasmus Darwin, Lamarck and other early evolutionists, but they did not seem convincing to him.

The decisive turn in his fate was the round-the-world trip on the Beagle ship (1832-1837). According to Darwin himself, during this trip he was most impressed by: “1) the discovery of giant fossil animals that were covered with a shell similar to that of modern armadillos; 2) the fact that, as one moves along the mainland of South America, closely related species of animals replace one another; 3) the fact that closely related species of various islands of the Galapagos archipelago differ slightly from each other. It was obvious that such facts, as well as many others, could only be explained on the basis of the assumption that the species gradually changed, and this problem began to haunt me.

Upon returning from his voyage, Darwin begins to ponder the problem of the origin of species. He considers various ideas, including the idea of Lamarck, and rejects them, since none of them gives an explanation for the facts of the amazing adaptability of animals and plants to their living conditions. What seemed to the early evolutionists as a given and self-explanatory, appears to Darwin as the most important question. He collects data on the variability of animals and plants in nature and under conditions of domestication. Many years later, recalling how his theory arose, Darwin would write: “Soon I realized that the cornerstone of man's success in creating useful races of animals and plants was selection. However, for some time it remained a mystery to me how selection could be applied to organisms living in natural conditions. Just at that time in England, the ideas of the English scientist T. Malthus about the increase in the number of populations exponentially were vigorously discussed. “In October, 1838, I read Malthus’ book On Population,” continues Darwin, “and since, through long observation of the way of life of animals and plants, I was well prepared to appreciate the significance of the struggle for existence going on everywhere, I was immediately struck by the idea that under such conditions favorable changes should tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this should be the formation of new species.

So, the idea of the origin of species through natural selection came to Darwin in 1838. For 20 years he worked on it. In 1856, on the advice of Lyell, he began to prepare his work for publication. In 1858, the young English scientist Alfred Wallace sent Darwin the manuscript of his paper "On the tendency of varieties to deviate indefinitely from the original type." This article contained an exposition of the idea of the origin of species through natural selection. Darwin was ready to refuse to publish his work, but his friends, the geologist Ch. Lyell and the botanist G. Hooker, who had known about Darwin's idea for a long time and got acquainted with the preliminary drafts of his book, convinced the scientist that both works should be published simultaneously.

Darwin's book, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favorable Races in the Struggle for Life, was published in 1859, and its success exceeded all expectations. His idea of evolution met with passionate support from some scientists and harsh criticism from others. This and subsequent works of Darwin "Changes in animals and plants during domestication", "The origin of man and sexual selection", "The expression of emotions in man and animals" were translated into many languages immediately after the publication. It is noteworthy that the Russian translation of Darwin's book "Changes in Animals and Plants under Domestication" was published earlier than its original text. The outstanding Russian paleontologist V. O. Kovalevsky translated this book from the publishing proofs provided to him by Darwin and published it in separate editions.

Basic principles of the evolutionary theory of Ch. Darwin.

The essence of the Darwinian concept of evolution is reduced to a number of logical, experimentally verified and confirmed by a huge amount of factual data provisions:

1. Within each species of living organisms, there is a huge range of individual hereditary variability in morphological, physiological, behavioral and any other characteristics. This variability may be continuous, quantitative, or discontinuous qualitative, but it always exists.

2. All living organisms reproduce exponentially.

3. Life resources for any kind of living organisms are limited, and therefore there must be a struggle for existence either between individuals of the same species, or between individuals of different species, or with natural conditions. In the concept of "struggle for existence" Darwin included not only the actual struggle of an individual for life, but also the struggle for success in reproduction.

4. In the conditions of the struggle for existence, the most adapted individuals survive and give offspring, having those deviations that accidentally turned out to be adaptive to given environmental conditions. This is a fundamentally important point in Darwin's argument. Deviations do not occur in a directed way - in response to the action of the environment, but by chance. Few of them are useful in specific conditions. The descendants of a surviving individual who inherit a beneficial variation that allowed their ancestor to survive are better adapted to the environment than other members of the population.

5. Survival and preferential reproduction of adapted individuals Darwin called natural selection.

6. Natural selection of individual isolated varieties in different conditions of existence gradually leads to divergences(divergence) of the characters of these varieties and, ultimately, to speciation.

On these postulates, flawless from the point of view of logic and supported by a huge amount of facts, the modern theory of evolution was created.

The main merit of Darwin is that he established the mechanism of evolution, which explains both the diversity of living beings and their amazing expediency, adaptability to the conditions of existence. This mechanism is gradual natural selection of random undirected hereditary changes.