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Christianity was major belief before Charles Darwins' theory of evolution was expressed. People of that generation believed that God created people and the genetic development of humans was irrelevant as far as they were concerned. I hope this helped :)

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11y ago
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12y ago

Two important ideas: Fixity of Species and Scala Naturae.

Fixity of Species

Fixity of Species -- concept that each species remains unchanged indefinately after its creation. Species were viewed as discrete, fixed entities which were sharply distinguished from other species and invariable. This concept was consistent with the views ofcatastrophists, creationists, and progressionists.

Plato (427?-347 BC): Theory of Forms (Theory of Ideas)

Two worlds: 1) perfect world of Forms and 2) imperfect world. Eidos is the eternal, perfect, heavenly embodiment of things. Variation in living and non-living things are imperfect manifestations of perfect world of Forms, and as such are not important.

Aristotle (384-322 BC): Theory of Types, application of Plato's Theory of Forms to Biology.

Species reflect existence of unchanging, ideal form, the "universal" or "type", and variation represents an imperfect manifestation of underlying type. Hence, variation was not all that important--just "noise".

Carl Linnaeus (Swedish botanist, 1707-1778)

His work represents best of Classical Tradition.

Father of Taxonomy, wrote Systema Naturae ("Natural System") and established binomial nomenclature.

Views were decidedly classicist; each species was immutable creation of God, which reflected an unchanging heavenly type. He believed that an entire species could be represented by one type specimen (holotype). This view of species is now referred to as the Typological Concept of Species. It stressed the constancy and discreteness of species, which were considered to be invariable and sharply different. Systematists of today designate types (e.g., holotypes) when describing species today as a vestige of this view of species.

These ideas of Plato, Aristotle and Linneaus are referred to as the concept of the fixity of species. Under this concept, species are viewed as fixed, unchanging entities. Once species originated (were created) they were believed not to change. These views are entirely at variance with Darwin's views as he considered individual variation to be of great importance and believed that species changed through time, resulting in transmutation(nowadays speciation).

Scala Naturae ("Scale of Nature")

Another concept of Aristotle.

All creatures arranged on fixed, unchanging linear scale (hierarchy) of nature from lowest to highest forms, representing degrees of perfection. This idea also is called the chain of being, scale of being, or ladder of perfection: involved greater degrees of perfection of species with humans on top.

Later in 1600-1700's, Lamarck modified the idea of scala naturae from a fixed scale of perfection into continuous moving scale of progress, e.g. stair vs. escalator.

This idea too is entirely contrary to Darwin's views as he envisioned that descent with modification would result in branching evolutionary patterns. Moreover, distinguishing among higher or lower forms of life or degrees of perfection was not part of Darwin's theory.

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Earth is a few thousand years old, and populations are unchanging.

6,000 to be exact.

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Q: What was the prevailing notion prior to the time of lyell and Darwin?
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What was Patrick Matthews theory of evolution?

It was exactly what he named it (Matthew 1831) in 'On Naval Timber and Arboriculture' 28 years before Darwin (1859) replicated it in the Origin of Species, namely The 'natural process of selection'.Both Darwin and Wallace fully admitted that Matthew discovered the concept. Thereafter, Darwin started mythmongering about Matthew's ideas being in an obscure book and solely in its appendix, and claiming no naturalist had read it. Darwin claimed no prior knowledge of Matthew's ideas (Wallace kept silent on that one) and Darwinists credulously swallowed those myths hook line and sinker. They simply took Darwin's word for it. So much for nullius in verba!Few people have read Matthew's book. But if you read it -- as Darwin obviously did pre-Origin, you'll see for yourself that we are celebrating a counterfeit genius on the back of the £10 note! Dr Mike Sutton (Dysologist).


Was Charles Darwin the first person to develop a theory of evolution?

Charles Darwin went to an island (Galapagos)where he studied the beaks of finches. He noticed that the although the birds were from the same species, they looked different. This is how he worked out that "Species change over time to adapt to their environment."


What is the supertitious?

Superstition is a belief in a non-physical causality: that one event causes another without any physical process linking the two events. The word is often used pejoratively to refer to practices other than the one prevailing in a given society although the prevailing religion may contain just as many supernatural beliefs. It is also commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events.


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We normally plan learning activities ,However in advanced approach we do plan learning experiences as prerequisite for learning process to occur . Learning occurs only when ,teachers explore students prior knowledge and link it to prevailing conditions. If teachers will prepare piquant learning conditions this will enhance impartment of knowledge and skills to their learners ( Thadei filipatali UDSM,2012)


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Infectious disease was the leading cause of death prior to the 20th century !:]

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What was Patrick Matthews theory of evolution?

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Was Charles Darwin the first person to develop a theory of evolution?

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