4. The evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin Remember! What types of variability do you know? What is artificial selection?

2.5. Evolutionary Biology and Systematics The theoretical principles of evolutionary biology are fundamental to the principles of systematics. Outside systematics there is no biology. Not a single biological problem can be considered without taxonomy, including

11.5. Evolutionary psychology Evolutionary psychology is the only direction in psychology that adequately reflects the achievements of genetics and evolutionary biology. Its strength is its interdisciplinary approach. Analysis of the interaction of biological and

Despite the dominance of views on the immutability of living nature, biologists continued to accumulate factual material that contradicted these ideas. The discovery of the microscope in the 17th century. and its application in biological research has greatly expanded the horizons of scientists. Such sciences as embryology took shape, paleontology arose.

The scientist who created the first evolutionary theory was the outstanding French naturalist J. B. Lamarck(1744-1829). His work made a huge contribution to biology. Dealing with the taxonomy of animals that do not belong to the same species. Based on the similarity, J.B. Lamarck singled out 10 classes of invertebrates instead of two classes from K. Linnaeus (insects and worms). Among them, groups such as crustaceans, arachnids, insects have survived to this day, other groups - mollusks, annelids - have been elevated to the rank of type.

It can be said that J.B. Lamarck laid the foundations of natural taxonomy. He was the first to raise the question of the causes of similarities and differences in animals. “Could I consider ... a series of animals from the most perfect of them to the most imperfect,” wrote J. B. Lamarck, “and not try to establish what this so wonderful successively created different bodies might depend on, ascending from the simplest to the most complex?”. Pay attention to the words "nature has consistently created." For the first time since the time of Lucretius, the scientist confidently stated that it was not God who created organisms of varying degrees of complexity, but nature based on natural laws. In other words, J. B. Lamarck came to the evolutionary idea - the historical development of the organic world.

Lamarck's evolutionary theory is based on a coherent idea of ​​development, gradual and slow, from simple to complex, and of the role of the external environment in the transformation of organisms.

In his main work "Philosophy of Zoology", published in 1809, J.B. Lamarck provides numerous evidence of the variability of species. Changes in the structure of living organisms and the formation of new species occur, according to J.B. Lamarck, extremely slowly and therefore imperceptibly. Important role in the emergence of new species in the historical past, he assigns gradual changes in the hydrogeological regime on the surface of the Earth and climatic conditions. In this way, in the analysis of biological phenomena, the scientist included two important factors: the time factor and environmental conditions. This was fundamentally new in comparison with the mechanistic ideas of supporters of the immutability of species.

J.B. Lamarck believed that two mechanisms underlie the formation of new species:

firstly, the desire of organisms for self-improvement, laid down by the Creator, and,

secondly, the direct influence of the external environment on the development of signs as a result of the exercises of the organs. These views of J. B. Lamarck on the mechanisms of evolution turned out to be erroneous. But his great merit is that he introduced the principle of historicism as a condition for understanding biological phenomena and put forward the conditions of the external environment as the main reason for the variability of species.

The evolutionary theory of J. B. Lamarck did not receive recognition from his contemporaries. Evidence for the causes of species variability has not been convincing enough. Assigning a decisive role in evolution to the direct influence of the external environment, the exercise and non-exercise of organs and the inheritance of acquired traits, J.B. Lamarck could not explain the emergence of a number of adaptations. So, the color of the shell of bird eggs is clearly adaptive in nature, but it is impossible to explain this fact from the standpoint of the theory of J.B. Lamarck.

Evolution means a gradual, regular transition from one state to another. Biological evolution is understood as the change in populations of plants and animals in a number of generations, directed by natural selection. Over the course of many millions of years, beginning with the emergence of life on Earth, as a result of a continuous, irreversible, natural process of replacing some species by others, the animal and plant forms that exist today have been formed. The idea that organisms evolve over generations has intrigued many naturalists. The idea that modern living organisms evolved from simpler, primitive ones has long lived in the minds of people. The beginnings of such ideas are found in the writings of ancient Indian and ancient Greek philosophers. Aristotle (384-322 BC), studying the external structure and development of animals, came to the conclusion that man and animals have a single structural plan. All nature, according to Aristotle, consists of steps of the "ladder": the first - inanimate nature, the second - plants, the third - lower, attached marine animals, the fourth - all other animals and, finally, the fifth - man. But Aristotle's "ladder" is static, since he believed that higher forms do not come from the lower ones. Another ancient philosopher Heraclitus (2400 years ago) - the founder of dialectics and the author of the well-known saying "Everything flows, everything changes" - argued that everything in the world has its own specific cause, and that the organic world developed from the inorganic. He also represented the development of the organic world in the form of a "ladder" (stones, plants, animals, man). Due to the insufficient accumulation of factual material, but the high development of philosophical thought, the ancient period entered the history of the development of science as a period when all the conclusions drawn were a chain of conclusions. The Middle Ages are characterized by stagnation in science; dominated by scholasticism (fruitless, formal reasoning) and striving for God.

In the Renaissance (XIV - XVI centuries), after the medieval stagnation, there was a stormy

the development of science, culture, the upper strata of society - the aristocracy, the emerging bourgeoisie, the bourgeois intelligentsia. During this period, factual material accumulates in science, interest in natural sciences. The number of people who accepted the theory of evolution of the organic world has increased since that time.

One of the brightest representatives of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci (XV century), believed that with the change in the relief of the Earth, the organic world also changed.

18th century was marked by the development of evolutionary views in Russian and European natural science. By this time, a lot of descriptive material about plants and animals had accumulated, which needed to be systematized. The system compiled by the famous Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) won universal recognition. On the basis of one or two features (mainly morphological), he classified plants and animals into species, genera, and classes. He took the form as the unit of classification. C. Linnaeus called a species a set of individuals similar in structure, giving fertile offspring. In his system, he used the principle of double Latin names of the genus and species proposed by his predecessors, for example: Lathyrus pratensis - meadow rank or Canis famillaris - domestic dog. However, in this system, compiled on the basis of random characters, systematically distant organisms sometimes found themselves in one class, while related ones in different ones. K. Linnaeus correctly singled out the classes of mammals, birds and fish, but mistakenly combined reptiles and amphibians into one class “Reptiles”. Almost all invertebrates fell into the class "Worms", but he correctly placed man and the great ape in one order.

K. Linnaeus shared metaphysical views on nature, seeing in it the original expediency, “the wisdom of the creator”. He considered each species unchanged and constant, not related to other species. Nevertheless, he recognized that species may arise by crossing or as a result of a change in the environment, but such an understanding came to him at the end of his life. The contribution of K. Linnaeus to the progressive development of natural science is enormous: he proposed a system of animals and plants; introduced a binary system of double names; described about 1,200 genera and more than 8,000 plant species; reformed the botanical language and established up to 1,000 terms, many of which he introduced for the first time. The works of K. Linnaeus helped his followers to systematize the disparate factual material and improve it.

IN early XVIII in. the French scientist Jeannot-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) created the first evolutionary theory, which he outlined in his work Philosophy of Zoology (1809). According to Lamarck, some organisms evolved from others in the process of long evolution, gradually changing and improving under the influence of the external environment. Changes were fixed and inherited, which was the main factor that determined evolution. J.-B. Lamarck was the first to set forth the ideas of the evolution of living nature, which affirmed the historical development from the simple to the complex. However, the question of the driving forces of evolution was solved by him incorrectly: Lamarck believed that the main driving force of evolution is the internal striving of all living things for perfection. His statement about the innate ability of organisms to respond to changes in the external environment only with useful hereditary changes was not confirmed by further research by scientists. Evidence for evolutionary theory put forward by J.-B. Lamarck, turned out to be insufficient for their complete acceptance, since no answers were given to the questions: how to explain the great diversity of species in nature; what is the reason for the improvement of the organization of living beings; how to explain the adaptation of organisms to environmental conditions?

IN Russia XVIII in. notable for the emergence of new scientific ideas. The brilliant Russian scientist M.V. Lomonosov, the materialist philosopher A.N. Radishchev, academician K.F. Wolf and other prominent scientists expressed ideas about the evolutionary development and changeability of nature. M. V. Lomonosov argued that changes in the landscape of the Earth caused climate changes, in connection with which animals and plants changed, its

inhabiting. K. F. Wolf argued that during the development of the chicken embryo, all organs appear as a result of development, and are not predetermined (the theory of epigenesis), and all changes are associated with nutrition and climate. Not yet having sufficient scientific material at his disposal, K. F. Wolf made an assumption that brilliantly anticipated the full scientific evolutionary teaching of the future. The philosopher and writer A. N. Radishchev (1749-1802) opposed religion and the immutability of nature.

He argued that in nature “from stone to man, gradualness is clear, worthy of reverent astonishment.” According to A. N. Radishchev, the “ladder of matter” looks like this: inorganic nature, plants, animals, and, finally, a person who has a number of properties inherent in other animals, but differs from them in the ability to think.

19th century characterized by a surge of scientific thought. The development of industry, agriculture, geology, astronomy, and chemistry contributed to the accumulation of vast factual material that needed to be combined and systematized. In the 19th century metaphysical ideas about the immutability of living beings are being criticized more and more. In Russia, evolutionary ideas were constantly expressed. For example, Afanasy Kaverznev ( late 18th- the beginning of the 19th century) in his work “On the Rebirth of Animals” argued that species do exist in nature, but they are changeable.

Variability factors are changes environment: food, climate, temperature, humidity, relief, etc. He raised the question of the origin of species from one another and their relationship. A. Kaverznev confirmed his reasoning with examples from human practice in breeding animal breeds. K.F. Rulye (1814-1858), even 10-15 years before the publication of Charles Darwin’s work “The Origin of Species”, wrote about historical development nature, sharply criticizing the metaphysical views on the immutability and constancy of species and the descriptive trend in science. He linked the origin of species with their struggle for existence. K. F. Roulier did not recognize the position of J.-B. Lamarck on the internal striving of organisms for progress. He supported his views with comparative data, pointing out the similarity of modern animals with their fossil remains. He wrote: “There is no rest in nature... stagnation... all phenomena are interconnected and conditioned by each other.” Progressive evolutionary ideas were expressed by K. M. Baer (1792-1876), doing research in the field of embryology.

And another scientist - A.I. Herzen (1812-1870) in his works “Amateurism in Science” and “Letters on the Study of Nature” wrote about the need to study the origin of organisms, their family ties, to consider the structure of animals in unity with physiological characteristics, and that mental activity should also be to study in development - from the lowest to the highest, including man. He saw the main task in revealing the reasons for the unity of the organic world with all its diversity and explaining the origin of animals. N.G. Chernyshevsky (1828-1889) in his works dwelled on the causes of variability and the question of the unity of the origin of man and animals.

The idea of ​​the evolution of living beings at the beginning of the XIX century. met with many scientists more opponents than supporters. The most irreconcilable opponent of the theory of J.-B. Lamarck was the greatest French biologist J. Cuvier (1769-1832). A metaphysician and idealist in his worldview, a paleontologist by scientific vocation, J. Cuvier created a theory of catastrophes to explain the fact that he did not find intermediate forms between the remains of animals found in different layers of the Earth. According to this theory, the world is immutable. The appearance of certain animals, plants is associated with a divine creative act. From time to time, catastrophes occurred in certain parts of the Earth, in which all living things died, and instead of them, organisms settled from other places where there were no catastrophes. However, using the method of comparison in the study of the body of an animal, J. Cuvier found that the body is closely connected with the external environment and is a single whole - all parts of the body are subordinate. On the basis of these studies, the scientist derived the law of correlation of organs: one bone can restore the entire appearance of the animal and its internal structure.

Simultaneously with J. Cuvier, another French naturalist E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844) lived and worked. Both naturalists were connected by bonds of friendship, but were opponents in scientific and philosophical views. E. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire was a supporter of evolutionary ideas, i.e. ideas about change. Exploring various animals, he noticed the similarity (homology) of the structure of the skeletons of the forelimbs of vertebrates (1818). Based on his research, he created the doctrine of a single plan of the structure of vertebrates. “Nature has created all living beings according to a single plan,” Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire argued, “but infinitely varying in detail.” He associated all changes with environmental conditions. It is interesting that the famous German poet and naturalist I.-W. Goethe (1749-1832) is the author of the well-known idea - “flower metamorphosis”, according to which the flower is a modified shoot bud, i.e. petals, sepals, stamens, and parts of the pistil - they are all nothing more than modified leaves. The further development of biology confirmed the correctness of Goethe's ideas.

The greatest English naturalist C. Darwin (1809-1882) initiated a new era in the development of natural science with his evolutionary theory.

The emergence of the evolutionary teachings of Charles Darwin was facilitated by socio-economic prerequisites - the intensive development of capitalism, which gave impetus to the development of science, industry, technology, agriculture. On the formation of evolutionary views of Ch. Darwin big influence had the views of his own grandfather Erasmus Darwin, but the teachings of the English geologist C. Lyell (1797-1875), set forth in the work Fundamentals of Geology (1832), played a particularly important role. Having confirmed the existence of geological evolution, C. Lyell proved that the Earth arose much earlier than a few thousand years ago, and that it exists long enough for the evolution of the organic world to take place. C. Lyell was a close friend of Darwin, the latter considered himself his student. All these prerequisites played a big role in the formation of a logically coherent, scientifically based theory of Ch. Darwin. light in order to compile hydrographic charts for the British fleet. During the journey, he collected a large collection of plants and animals. Through various observations, he drew attention to the fact that, for example, on the east coast South America there are completely different types of plants and animals (in particular, birds) than in the western. In the Galapagos Islands, Darwin was struck by the variety of fish species and giant tortoises that lived on individual islands. It was all these observations that led him to finally reject the theory of divine creation and seek an explanation for the collected facts. The idea of ​​natural selection originated with Darwin shortly after returning from a trip in 1836. After 20 years of summarizing and comprehending a large amount of factual data, he wrote the book “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Breeds in the Struggle for Life”, published in 1859 exactly 50 years after Lamarck's book.

In 1858, Darwin received a manuscript from Alfred Russel Wallace, a young naturalist who had studied the distribution of plants and animals in the Greater Sunda Islands of the Malay Archipelago. In this work, Wallace put forward the idea of ​​natural selection, very close to Darwin's, to which he came on his own. By mutual agreement, Darwin and Wallace presented a joint report on their theory at a meeting of the Linnean Society in London in 1858, and Darwin published his fundamental work in the next, i.e. in 1859. It should be noted that Wallace considered himself a student of Darwin and recognized his priority in creating the theory of evolution. 12 years later, Darwin published The Descent of Man, a study of human evolution. C. Darwin is not the first scientist who expressed the ideas of evolution and the idea that currently existing living organisms are the changed descendants of their ancestors. These ideas were put forward before him. The main merit of Darwin is that he explained the mechanism of the evolutionary process, created the theory of natural selection. The main provisions of the theory of natural selection put forward by Darwin are as follows. Any group of animals and plants is characterized by variability. For evolution, only heritable changes resulting from mutations are important. Only natural selection of changes (hereditary) can affect the nature of successive generations of a given population.

The number of organisms is increasing exponentially. Nevertheless, the abundance of each species under natural conditions is fairly constant, because most of offspring die in every generation. Therefore, there is a struggle for existence. In the competitive struggle, the more adapted hereditary changes that make it easier survive. organism survival in a certain environment, give their owners advantages over other, less adapted organisms. The concept of survival of the fittest is at the core of the theory of natural selection. Favorable changes are passed down from generation to generation, so there are big differences over time. Ultimately, new species emerge from existing ones.

As a result of human selection based on hereditary variability breeds of animals and varieties of plants. Darwin established that various breeds of animals and varieties cultivated plants created by man as a result of artificial selection. From generation to generation, a person selected and left for breeding individuals with interesting changes for him (necessarily hereditary) and eliminated those individuals that were undesirable in their qualities. This approach made it possible to obtain new breeds and varieties, the characteristics of which corresponded to the interests of man.

On the basis of hereditary variability as a result of natural selection, the formation of new species occurs. driving force evolution is natural selection. As a result of many years of natural selection, distant descendants may turn out to be so dissimilar to their ancestors that they can also be isolated as an independent species. Some members of a population may acquire some adaptations to environmental changes, while others adapt differently. Thus, two or more species can arise from one ancestral species. Darwin and Wallace also assumed that animals and plants may have such changes that, under given environmental conditions, do not bring either benefit or harm to the organism, are not subject to direct natural selection, while the transmission of traits to subsequent generations is determined randomly.

Darwin's theory of natural selection was so reasonable and so well founded that most biologists soon accepted it. Russian evolutionists paved the way for the adoption of Darwin's theory, so in Russia she found her followers. However, in Darwin's time, many areas biological science were not well developed and had little to offer him in developing his theory. The main discoveries of Gregor Mendel in the theory of heredity (in genetics) were not known to either Darwin (although they worked at the same time), or most scientists of his time. Cytology, which studies cells, did not yet know how cells divide. Paleontology, the science of fossils, was a young science, and the beautiful specimens of fossil animals and plants that appeared later had not yet been discovered. The discreteness of the factual material and the lack of scientific achievements at that time, which appeared later, allowed Darwin's opponents to express an opinion about the lack of evidence for the correctness of the provisions of the theory of evolution. Thus, one of the objections raised at the beginning against this theory was that it cannot explain the causes of the appearance in the organism of many structures that seem useless. However, many morphological differences between species that are not important for survival are side effects genes (but this became known only in the 20th century!), which determine external physiological traits that are imperceptible, but very important for survival, or some non-adaptive traits can gain a foothold in the population by chance, as a result of “gene drift”. Due to the lack of these and some other data, the development of the theory of evolution by natural selection in the 19th century. was an even more remarkable achievement than if it had taken place in

laid down in the book "Philosophy of Zoology" (1809). Lamarck was the first to divide the problem into two parts: the origin physical body as a result of evolution and the emergence of a god-like mind. The body of a person testifies to his origin from animals, and the mind and soul - to a divine origin. The God-likeness of man is not derived from the natural laws of nature and cannot be acquired in the process of evolution. Lamarck argued that in his physical features man is closest to the great apes, in particular to chimpanzees, therefore he fully allowed his origin from some kind of “four-armed”. Lamarck gave a number of evidence of evolution in the world of animals and plants, arguing that all modern organisms originated from ancient ones through evolution. He admitted that man himself evolved over time from apes. Due to the thinning of the forests, the ancient great ape was forced to change its arboreal way of life to a terrestrial one and switch to walking on two legs. As a result of bipedalism, the structure of the spine, muscles, feet, hands, jaws, teeth, and brain has changed greatly. In the conditions of public life, people soon developed articulate speech.

IN same XVIII in. famous Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus(1 707- 1 778), the creator of the modern classification of plants and animals, became the first scientist who classified man and ape in the same group of animals - primates. True, writes a person in a separate line as a special kind of people (homo) with one kind of "reasonable man" (Homo sapiens) next to the great apes. However, Linnaeus belonged to the number of scientists who believed in the divine act of creation of the world and the immutability of all living things. That is why he categorically declared: there are as many species as God created them from the very beginning. Linnaeus was convinced that man, unlike all other living beings, was created in the image and likeness of God and he was given a divine mind. However, despite this, Linnaeus's classification combined man and apes into one group. Thus, the scientist, perhaps unwittingly, established that man is the most highly developed form of mammals, which is closest to the great apes.

By the beginning of the XIX century. accumulated much more complete information about people, fauna and flora different countries peace. Thanks to the research of Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) and Charles Lyell (1797-1875), ideas about fossil animals have significantly expanded. J. E. Doornik (1808) bluntly stated that humans are descended from the great apes.

In the XVIII- the first half of the XIX century. archaeologists, paleontologists, ethnographers have accumulated a large empirical material, which formed the basis of the doctrine of anthropogenesis. An important role was played by the research of the French archaeologist Boucher de Pert. In the 1840-50s. he was looking for stone tools and proved that they were used by primitive man, who lived simultaneously with the mammoth, etc. These discoveries, which refute biblical chronology, met with stormy resistance. Only in the 1860s. Boucher de Perth's ideas were recognized in science.

DARWIN'S THEORY

In 1871, Charles Darwin's book "The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection" was published. So, at the end of the XIX century. a new scientific theory, Darwinian, who claimed that man descended from a monkey through a very long evolution, the struggle for existence, the survival of the strongest individuals and species, inheritance best features from their parents, successful adaptation to changing conditions, the emergence of labor, thinking and speech skills. By assumption Charles Darwin (1809- 1882), in the process of intraspecific reproduction, new qualities appear in individual individuals, as a result, some of the representatives of the species gain an advantage over others and are more likely to survive in a given habitat. Therefore, the qualities acquired by them are fixed and passed on to their descendants. "Those who were stronger and better built," Darwin notes, "had the greatest success in a long line of generations and survived in greater numbers." Over time, changes in organisms become so significant that a new species appears.

According to Darwin, our ancient ancestors, monkeys, lived in herds in trees, had pointed ears, were covered with hair, both sexes had beards. They were primitive lower apes. Later ancestors, according to Darwin, were the great apes. Of the fossil anthropoids known to him, he mentions Dryopithecus. Changing environmental conditions, in particular the thinning of forests, forced them to move from life on trees to life on the ground in the forest-steppe area in search of food. Then they began to live in open areas.

Among the qualities that contribute to the survival of the group, Darwin singled out not only and not so much physical strength how much the ability to provide mutual assistance. "The little strength of man," wrote Darwin, "was more than balanced, first, by his mental faculties, which taught him to help his fellow men and receive help from them." An increase in the group of carriers of moral principles increases the viability of the tribe in comparison with others, where this indicator is lower. “Obviously,” Darwin emphasizes, “that a tribe containing more members who are endowed with a highly developed sense of patriotism, loyalty ... and participation in others - members who are always ready to help each other and sacrifice themselves for the common good, should prevail over most other tribes, and this will be natural selection.

As established by modern science, the antigenic composition of the blood of humans, chimpanzees and gorillas is the same, and it can be transfused from monkeys to people, observing group compatibility. And one more confirmation

Darwin's position received - rech

is about chemical similarity man

and monkeys. Defined so called

my albumin index, serving

an indicator of one of the serum:

blood proteins - albumin. If at

take the human albumin index h;

for the capuchin most evolutionarily distant from humans - 5, and for another

more primitive lemur primate - 18.

Convincing evidence of the relationship between humans and monkeys was obtained using the method of molecular hybridization of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). It turned out that the number of similar genes in humans and great apes reaches 91%, in humans and gibbon - 76%, in humans and rhesus monkeys - 66%. Thus, modern developments confirm the validity of Darwin's conclusion that "there is an extremely close resemblance in general structure body, microscopic structure of tissues, chemical composition and constitutions between man and the higher animals, especially the great apes." Modern science also confirms Darwin's position on the restructuring of the mode of movement of human ancestors. The transition to upright posture is believed to precede the development of the hand and brain, and then the emergence of speech and thinking.

However, not all ideas of the great English scientist are recognized by modern science. Darwin's attempt to build the evolution of the human race as a single linear process, reminiscent of a tree, on which all branches come from a common root and therefore form a universal causal chain, is today recognized as unsuccessful. In modern science, the human evolutionary tree looks much more complex and confusing: its branches branch many times, form parallels, intersect, suddenly break off, leaving for the unknown. Current researchers prefer not to use the image of a tree, but speak of the so-called mesh evolution (its most accurate graphical representation is a fractal - a special non-linear self-similar structure) 5 .

A. Wallace's counterarguments

At the end of the XIX century. famous tropical explorer Alfred Wallace(1823-1913) developed the theory of selection independently of Darwin and simultaneously with him, but questioned his interpretation. Wallace wrote that man is endowed with much greater potentialities than he needs at all as a biological being. This means that in man there is another, higher principle, which serves his development. He pointed out that a person is inherent in such

3 Muravnik G.L. The human paradox: a new look at an old problem. - http://www.synergia.itn.ru/kerigma/rek-lit/nauka/stat/par-chel.htm.

some qualities that could not arise in the process of natural selection and were not at all decisive in the biological life of the species. "Feelings of abstract justice or love of one's neighbor," he wrote, "could never be acquired in this way (that is, by selection), for these feelings are incompatible with the law of the survival of the strongest" 6 . He came to the conclusion that the human brain cannot be seen as the result of natural selection. Wallace proclaimed that this "thinking tool" arose as a result of the needs of its owner, and suggested "the intervention of a higher intelligent being."

Unlike Darwin, Wallace argued that there is an impassable abyss between man and animals: they are brothers by blood, but antagonists by psyche. He managed to prove that moral feelings, like feelings of beauty and mysticism, are not at all late products of civilization, but, on the contrary, are inherent in "savages" at the lowest levels of culture. Wallace was the first or one of the first to decisively reject the idea of ​​the mental inferiority of the so-called savages. And in this he received the full support of modern anthropology, which does not at all consider backward tribes to be a transitional form between man and ape.

When A. Wallace asked himself: why did nature endow primitive man with such properties as, for example, mathematical or musical abilities? I found only one answer. According to his deep conviction, “mental and moral abilities ... must have had a different origin, and for this origin we can find a sufficient reason in the invisible spiritual world” 7 . Only the highest being, i.e. god could ask a man right direction, since man himself directs the development of "many animal and plant forms."

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Friends Rivals

Two prominent Englishmen - A. Wallace and C. Darwin - held different views on human evolution, although they independently discovered the same theory. In 1858, Wallace sent Darwin from the West Indies the manuscript of his paper "On the Tendency of Varieties to Deviate Infinitely from the Original Type." On 15 pages, he fully outlined everything that Darwin himself was preparing for publication in his book On the Origin of Species. He has been working on it for 20 years, but a secret from many. It seemed that the fruits of a brilliant discovery - the theory of natural selection - went down the drain. Friends, knowing that Darwin began his work much earlier than Wallace and at the same time paying tribute to the inquisitive naturalist, decided to publish Wallace's article at the same time.

6 Wallace A. Darwinism. M., 1898. S. 382.

7 Decree. op. S. 730.

8 Granin D. Bison. L., 1987.

forests and a private letter written by Darwin a year ago with an annotation of his work, and report both works to the Royal Society. And so it happened: on July 1, 1859, Darwin published Wallace's article, along with summary his theory in the Protocols of the London Linnean Society. Alfred Wallace stated that he considered their actions more than generous towards him. Never, not once in his next excellent works, again ahead of Darwin in some way, did he lay claim by a single word to the worldwide fame that went to Darwin and his great book. Like true gentlemen, scientists did not argue about priority, giving the palm to each other. The outstanding Russian writer Daniil Granin 8 wrote about this with admiration. Nevertheless, the fact remains that Wallace was the first to introduce the term "Darwinism".

Among the passionate adherents of Charles Darwin was a famous German scientist Ernst Haeckel(1834-1919), professor at the University of Jena. In his book The Natural History of the Universe, he gave a complete, albeit based,

Haeckel formulated the famous "basic biogenetic law”, according to which each person in his individual development repeats in a compressed form the entire path of the formation of mankind. He built a scheme of human evolution, consisting of 22 stages. But gradually it became clear that almost none of them corresponded to reality.

Engels' labor theory

The logical continuation of Darwin's teachings was the labor theory of anthropogenesis F. Engels. It was written in 1873-1876. and is most fully presented in his article "The role of labor in the process of transformation of a monkey into a man", which was one of the chapters of his work "Dialectics of Nature". The basis of Engels' concept is the concept of labor as the first fundamental condition of all human life, moreover, to such an extent that in a certain sense we can say that "labor created man himself" 10 . This is where the textbook formulation “labor created man from the monkey” originates, which was considered one of the fundamental statements of historical materialism.

By labor, Engels understood purposeful activity that began with the manufacture of tools from stone, bone, and wood. According to Engels, consciousness was formed as a result of labor. In the process of labor, people had a need to say something to each other. Thus, speech appeared as a means of communication in joint labor activity. In turn, the activist

4 Much later, they were mined by a supporter of the Darwinian theory, Eugene Dubois. He believed in the existence of Pithecanthropus and was firmly convinced that the confirmation of this hypothesis would serve as the best proof of the truth of Darwin's evolutionary teachings. And so it happened: in 1892, in Java, he discovered the remains of Pithecanthropus.

10 Marx K., Engels F. Op. 2nd ed. T. 20. S. 486.

Humanity turned out to be the impulse that led to the emergence of culture and society.

In his work, Engels establishes the sequence of the main stages of hominization, highlighting upright walking as a decisive step towards the humanization of the ape; defines the hand as an organ and product of labor; considers the emergence of sound language and articulate speech, human thinking as a consequence community development; emphasizes the qualitative originality of anthropogenesis as a process of active adaptation of man to the environment, ecological superiority human reasonable over other species.

Modern science is producing more and more new information both in favor of Darwin's theory and against it. Not all authors also agree with Engels' theory of anthropogenesis. The main position of the labor theory of anthropogenesis - the decisive role of tool making in the processes of hominization - is shared by most anthropologists of the world, however, other concepts that are different from it are gaining ground in foreign anthropology. So, the ideas cultural adaptation” already go beyond the scope of labor theory, since here we are talking about an “auto-catalytic reaction” or “cybernetic mechanism” of feedback between the development of biology (the brain) and culture with the leading role of genetic factors. In other approaches, the role of labor as the locomotive of the global process of hominization is replaced by non-social factors. Among them: a short-term increase in the radiation background due to tectonic movements, faults in the earth's crust and enhanced volcanism, inversions geomagnetic field Lands, other stressful situations, isolation, heterosis, as well as changes in behavioral responses caused by changes in the environmental situation - from eating behavior and "reproductive strategy" to "pre-cultural behavior".

Following the revision of the labor factor, the evolution of the brain is assessed differently. IN modern science several models have been proposed: a gradual increase in brain mass at a constant rate, an autocatalytic acceleration of rates as the brain grows, and, finally, an “episodic increase”, when rapid changes alternate with periods of slow development. For the process of evolution of hominids in general, models are also being developed of mainly gradual phyletic development (“gradualism”) and “punctuated equilibrium”, with long periods of relative stability of species (stasis) changing to periods of very rapid changes leading to the formation of new species.

Geneticists and biochemists are finding more and more reasons to combine humans and great apes in the same family. genetic codes Humans and chimpanzees are 99% the same. This is confirmed by the study of randomly taken DNA sequences responsible for the same hereditary traits in humans and monkeys. And this conclusion is supported by the study of proteins, the composition and structure of which in humans and chimpanzees coincide even by more than 99%. Biochemical and genetic differences between two closely related rodent species within the same genus are 20-30 times greater. So Darwin's theory is correct.

Half a century later, they began to doubt her. The largest American paleontologist Henry Osborne (1857-1935) is a prominent representative of the reconciliation of science with religion. According to his hypothesis of aristogenesis, the creation of the organic world is carried out through purposeful evolution. According to Osborne, the ancestors of humans were not related to the ancestors of the great apes, i.e. man did not come from the circle of apes; people developed originally in Central Asia, and their ancestors led a terrestrial way of life. Evolution takes place not so much under the influence of the external environment, but due to the ability inherent in organisms for spontaneous progressive development.

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2. THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION J.B. LAMARCA

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck is rightfully considered the founder of the evolutionary theory, which he expressed in his book "Philosophy of Zoology", published at the beginning of the 19th century, he insisted on the variability of species. Lamarck was the first to substantiate a holistic theory of the evolution of the organic world, the progressive historical development of plants and animals. The scientist believed that the natural scientist should study the phenomena of nature in their interrelation, reveal the causes, ways and patterns of the progressive development of the organic world, the improvement of living beings.

Justifying his teaching, Lamarck relied on the following facts: the existence of varieties that occupy an intermediate position between two species; difficulties in diagnosing related species and the presence in nature of many “doubtful species”; change in species forms during the transition to other ecological and geographical conditions; cases of hybridization, especially interspecific.

2.1 Ideas about the gradation of living beings and the theory of species variability

Lamarck's theory is based on the idea of ​​gradation - the internal "striving for improvement" inherent in all living things; the action of this evolutionary factor determines the development of living nature, a gradual but steady increase in the organization of living beings - from the simplest to the most perfect. The result of gradation is the simultaneous existence in nature of organisms of varying degrees of complexity, as if forming a hierarchical ladder of beings. Gradation is easily traced when comparing representatives of large systematic categories of organisms (for example, classes) and on organs of paramount importance. Considering gradation to be a reflection of the main trend in the development of nature, implanted by the “supreme creator of all things,” Lamarck, however, tried to give this process a materialistic interpretation: in a number of cases, he associated the complication of organization with the action of fluids (for example, caloric, electricity) penetrating into the body from external environment.

He considered the main factor in the variability of species to be the influence of the external environment, which violates the correctness of gradation: general series animal deviations caused by the influence of habitat conditions and learned habits. Gradation, so to speak, "in its purest form" manifests itself with the invariance, stability of the external environment; any change in the conditions of existence forces organisms to adapt to the new environment in order not to perish. This disrupts the uniform and steady change of organisms on the path of progress, and the various evolutionary lines deviate to the side, linger on the primitive levels of organization. This is how Lamarck explained the simultaneous existence on Earth of highly organized and simple groups, as well as the diversity of forms of animals and plants.

Lamarck on highest level compared with his predecessors, he developed the problem of unlimited variability (transformism) of living forms under the influence of living conditions: nutrition, climate, soil characteristics, moisture, temperature, etc. He supported his idea with examples such as changes in the shape of leaves in plants that live in water and air environment (arrowhead, buttercup), in plants of wet and dry, lowland and mountainous areas.

Based on the level of organization of living beings, Lamarck singled out two forms of variability:

Direct, immediate variability of plants and lower animals under the influence of environmental conditions;

Indirect variability of higher animals that have a developed nervous system, with the participation of which the impact of the conditions of existence is perceived, habits, means of self-preservation, protection are developed.

Having shown the origin of variability, Lamarck analyzed the second factor of evolution - heredity. He notes that individual changes, if they are repeated in a number of generations, are transmitted by inheritance to descendants during reproduction and become signs of the species. Thus, Lamarck shows the importance of variability and heredity in speciation, in the historical development of animals and plants.

2.2 Laws of evolution Zh.B. Lamarck

Lamarck formulates his thoughts on the issues discussed in the form of two laws:

First law. “In every animal that has not reached the limit of its development, the more frequent and longer use of any organ strengthens this organ little by little, develops and enlarges it and gives it strength commensurate with the duration of use, while the constant non-use of this or that organ gradually weakens him, leads to his decline, continuously reduces his abilities and finally causes his disappearance.

This law can be called the law of variability, in which Lamarck focuses on the fact that the degree of development of a particular organ depends on its function, the intensity of the exercise, which is more capable of changing young animals that are still developing. The scientist opposes the metaphysical explanation of the form of animals as unchanging, created for a certain environment. However, Lamarck overestimates the importance of function and believes that exercise or non-exercise of an organ is an important factor in changing species.

Second law. “Everything that nature has forced individuals to gain or lose under the influence of the conditions in which their breed has long been located, and, consequently, under the influence of the predominance of the use or non-use of this or that part [of the body], - all this nature preserves by reproduction in new individuals that are descended from the former, provided that the acquired changes are common to both sexes or to those individuals from which the new individuals are descended.

The second law may be called the law of heredity; attention should be paid to the fact that Lamarck connects the inheritance of individual changes with the duration of the influence of the conditions that cause these changes, and as a result of reproduction, their strengthening in a number of generations. It is also necessary to emphasize the fact that Lamarck was one of the first to analyze heredity as important factor evolution. At the same time, it should be noted that Lamarck's position on the inheritance of all traits acquired during life was erroneous: further studies showed that only hereditary changes are of decisive importance in evolution.

Lamarck extends the provisions of these two laws to the problem of the origin of breeds of domestic animals and varieties of cultivated plants, and also uses them in explaining the animal origin of man. Lacking sufficient factual material, with the still low level of knowledge of these issues, Lamarck was unable to reach a correct understanding of the phenomena of heredity and variability.

Based on the provisions on the evolution of the organic world, Lamarck attempted to reveal the secret of the origin of man from the higher "four-armed monkeys" by their gradual transformation over a long time. The distant ancestors of man poured from life on trees to a terrestrial mode of existence, the position of their body became vertical. In the new conditions, in connection with new needs and habits, there was a restructuring of organs and systems, including the skull and jaws. So, from the four-armed, two-armed creatures were formed that led a herd lifestyle. They captured more convenient places for existence, quickly multiplied and forced out other breeds. In numerous groups, there was a need for communication, which was first carried out with the help of facial expressions, gestures, exclamations. Gradually, an articulate language arose, and then mental activity, the psyche. Lamarck emphasized the importance of the hand in the development of man.

Thus, Lamarck considers man as a part of nature, shows its anatomical and physiological similarity with animals and notes that the development of the human body is subject to the same laws by which other living beings develop. Lamarck sets out his hypothesis of the natural origin of man in the form of assumptions in order to cover up the materialistic essence of his bold thoughts for censorship reasons.

2.3 Significance of the theory of evolution J.B. Lamarck

Lamarck was the first naturalist who did not limit himself to individual assumptions of the variability of species. He developed the first integral evolutionary theory about the historical development of the organic world from the simplest forms that were formed from inorganic matter to modern highly organized species of animals and plants. From the standpoint of his theory, he also considered the origin of man.

Lamarck analyzes in detail the prerequisites for evolution (variability, heredity), considers the main directions of the evolutionary process (gradations of classes and diversity within a class as a result of variability), tries to establish the causes of evolution.

Lamarck successfully for his time developed the problem of species variability under the influence of natural causes, showed the importance of time and environmental conditions in evolution, which he considered as a manifestation common law development of nature.

The merit of Lamarck is also the fact that he was the first to propose a genealogical classification of animals, built on the principles of relatedness of organisms, and not just their similarity.

However, Lamarck's theory of evolution had many shortcomings. In particular, the scientist believed that the observed gaps in the natural series of organic forms (which makes it possible to classify them) are only apparent violations of a single continuous chain of organisms, due to the incompleteness of our knowledge. Nature, in his opinion, is a continuous series of changing individuals, and taxonomists only artificially, for the sake of classification convenience, break this series into separate systematic groups. Such an idea of ​​the fluidity of species forms was in logical connection with the interpretation of development as a process devoid of any breaks and jumps (the so-called flat evolutionism). This understanding of evolution was consistent with the denial of the natural extinction of species: fossil forms, according to Lamarck, did not die out, but, having changed, continue to exist in the guise of modern species. The existence of the lowest organisms, as if contradicting the idea of ​​gradation, is explained by their constant spontaneous generation from inanimate matter. According to Lamarck, evolutionary changes usually cannot be directly observed in nature only because they occur very slowly and are not commensurate with the relative brevity of human life.