1809 Acquired characteristics

Lamarck’s name itself, showing his Christian, French, and aristocratic heritage, is symbolic of acquired characteristics, which is ironic because we know that genetic characteristics of children are not acquired by their parents during their lives.

Using the development of a giraffe’s neck as an example of besoin is ironic in light of the reason that Lamarck had to leave the French army. Seventeen years old, having shown bravery and leadership under fire in the Pomeranian War, he was promoted on the spot to the rank of officer, whereupon one of his comrades “playfully lifted him by the head,” causing inflamation of the lymph nodes and a complicated and lengthy treatment.

Lamarck contributed to our theory of evolution two ideas that are true:

1. Individuals lose characteristics that they do not use and gain characteristics that are useful.
2. Individuals inherit the characteristics of their ancestors.

Lamarck was one of the first to realize that evolution is governed by natural laws, and his work gave us the first cohesive theory of evolution.

Darwin’s concept of “survival of the fittest” has eclipsed Lamarck’s concept of besoin. Natural selection works without wants or needs; evolution is purely a materialistic game of chance. Considered merely as a description of evolutionary change, besoin is appealing. It is appealing to consider a specie’s needs over time in its successful adaption to a changing environment and competition. However, besoin is romantic and ignores the fact that evolutionary change doesn’t have a moral cause, that it does not achieve progress toward a higher state, and that the individual has no role in winning the race.

See also in The book of science:

• 1735—Naming species—Carl Linnaeus
• 1796—Comparative anatomy—Georges Cuvier, John Hunter
• 1834—Cro-Magnons—Édouard Lartet, Louis Lartet
• 1842—Dinosaur—Richard Owen
• 1856—Neanderthal man—Hermann Schaaffhausen
• 1859—Origin of species—Charles Darwin
• 1860—Archaeopteryx—Richard Owen, Thomas Henry Huxley
• 1918—Neo-Darwinism—Ronald Fisher, John Burdon Sanderson Haldane, Sewall Wright, Theodosius Dobzhansky
• 1923—Crop diversity—Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov

Wikipedia has articles on both Lamarck and Lamarckism, his theory of evolution:

• “Jean-Baptiste Lamarck” on wikipedia
• “Lamarckism” on wikipedia
• Ever Since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould is an excellent resource for understanding the mechanisms of evolution.

The University of California at Berkeley compares the theories of Lamarck and Darwin:

• “Early Concepts of Evolution: Jean Baptiste Lamarck” at Berkeley