Evolution and Natural Selection, Anthropologically

All cites from Lavenda and Schultz (2012): Anthropology: What Does it Mean to be Human?

VIEWS OF NATURAL WORLD BEFORE EVOLUTION

Ideas from the Bible & Greek philosophy (LS:31) Greeks: enduring world Bible: Earth was young
October 23, 4004 B.C. (36-37)

Shared Essentialism, unchanging world

species have essences, unchanged since creation (31) Cowness Great Chain of Being (LS:32)

NEW MATERIAL EVIDENCE (LS:33)

Fossils of extinct species

Similar but different from existing

Catastrophism versus Uniformitarianism (33) Revise essentialism Species change over time Older earth (LS:37)

NEW IDEAS
Transformational Evolution, Lamarck (LS:35)
Pandas Thumb Giraffes Use the thumb, stretch the neck, passed along

Mechanism of Natural Selection, Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

Variation Heredity Differential reproduction Competition for resources

Drastically oversimplified view of thoughts about evolution, circa 19th century

Man

Animals

Evolution joined the links on the Great Chain of Being but did not change underlying idea

NATURAL SELECTION THEN AND NOW

After originally talking about descent with modification, Darwin borrows Spencers survival of the fittest phrase BIG MISTAKE No such thing as absolute fitness (LS:39) Fitness in an always-changing environment Adaptation & Exaptation (LS:39)

GENETICS, THEN AND NOW

At Darwins time, pangenesis or blended inheritance (LS:39) Mendel Genetics: disproves pangenesis Inheritance preserves variation as individual units Very complex, not just one gene/trait (41-49)
Latest research on importance of genetic switches

Genes just one part of developing organism

NICHE CONSTRUCTION (LS:50-52)

Genes are dynamic in an environment Organisms alter the environment Beaver dams Birds, rodents, algae Human activity Unintentional alterations Those alterations can change conditions of selection for the next generation Organisms move to different habitats (52)

SEXUAL SELECTION
Sexual selection: people (and other creatures) choose mates
Blue eyes or red feathers are not necessarily indicators of fitness

Agency: Actions like moving, altering the environment, selecting mates can reshape evolutionary processes (LS:53) Doesnt mean we can do whatever we want or control consequences

REVISITING GREAT CHAIN OF BEING

Evolution is not a march to the better and better
Within an environment, environment always changing and in dynamic interaction with organisms (LS:39) Adaptive in one environment, maladaptive in others Humans are not inevitable result or pinnacle (53)

Evolution doesnt always work

99.999% of once-existing species are extinct (53)

Not a path from simple complex

Sometimes simpler is more adaptable to changes

Worms

Mice Humans

Bacteria Monkeys

Horses Bacteria

Chimpanzees

Lions

THEM

U S

U S

THEM

Elephants US

INVITATION
The study of evolution in contemporary biology is very lively ( LS:53) A method, not an answer Invitation to
Debate, ongoing questions, understanding evidence Not to a dogmatic cult

Accepting that debate doesnt mean losing religion

But it may mean losing the dogmatic cult