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Early Perspectives on Evolutionary Change

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

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Synonyms

Pre-Darwinian evolutionary ideas; Philosophical antecedents of Darwin

Definition

The idea of evolution existed in the writings of various philosophers and scientists for many centuries before Charles Darwin produced a formal theory consistent with a large body of scientific evidence.

Introduction

Though Charles Darwin is the individual most closely associated with evolutionary theory in the public imagination, evolutionary perspectives on the origin of life had been a topic of discussion among philosophers and scientists for millennia. Among the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers, for example, Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610-546 B.C.E.) thought that the first animals were aquatic, with land-dwelling forms developing later. The first terrestrial ancestors of modern humans were amphibious, according to Anaximander, born in water and spending only part of their lives on land. Empedocles (c. 490-430 B.C.E.) speculated further that new species arose accidentally from the disjointed...

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References

  • Darwin, E. (1803). The temple of nature; or the origin of society: A poem, with philosophical notes. London: Joseph Johnson.

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  • Gould, S. J. (2002). The structure of evolutionary theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.

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  • Osborn, H. F. (1905). From the Greeks to Darwin: An outline of the development of the evolution tdea (Columbia biological series, 2nd ed.). New York: Macmillan.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eastern Connecticut State University, Willimantic, CT, USA

    Luis Cordon

Authors
  1. Luis Cordon
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luis Cordon .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Penn State Worthington Scranton, Scranton, USA

    Douglas Sellers

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Cordon, L. (2018). Early Perspectives on Evolutionary Change. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1275-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1275-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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