Charles Darwin's Influencers (First Post)

Charles Darwin's Influencers                                                                                                              by Alexandra Jones

I believe, of the five individuals listed, Thomas Malthus' work and contributions influenced and shaped Charles Darwin's work the most. Since Malthus inspired both Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who both later came to the same conclusions on their own about natural selection, Malthus is the clear connection.

Thomas Malthus' writings, An Essay on the Principle of Population, brought up that although animal populations consistently increase in numbers, the supply of food and water seem to stay roughly the same. Malthus was in fact unconcerned with changes in species, but focused on the "limits to human population growth" (31). He not only shed light on these issues, but he also thought of some solutions. He believed "populations needed to stay within appropriate limits by either raising the death rate or lowering the birth rate."

"Even though Malthus was not a scientist, he was an economist and understood populations and their growth or decline. Charles Darwin was fascinated by the idea that the human population was growing faster than food production could sustain." 

The points most directly affected by Malthus' work are: All organisms have the potential of reproducing exponentially; Malthus realized some animals (offspring included) had to die off or there would not be enough food, etc. for all of them. Resources are limited; part of Malthus' work included, populations grew faster than food supplies could sustain. Who gets better access to these limited resources; this brings up the idea of competition, it is not a matter of random but of who is stronger, faster etc.

I believe Malthus' influence on Darwin was a crucial part of what helped lead him to the idea of natural selection. This is due to the fact that the idea of competition was first brought up by Malthus.

"...when population size is limited by resource availability, there is constant competition...Competition among individuals is the ultimate key to understanding natural selection" (32).

The attitude of the church caused Darwin to be leery about publishing his work, knowing he would receive backlash. Any thought of evolution was viewed as going against Christianity and the Church. In addition, "He was deeply troubled that his wife, Emma, saw his ideas as running counter to her strong religious convictions" (37). These worries led the publication of his book On the Origin of Species to take longer. 

Sources:
http://evolution.about.com/od/Darwin/tp/People-Who-Influenced-Charles-Darwin.htm
http://evolution.about.com/od/scientists/p/Thomas-Malthus.htm