1. Darwin was not the first to propose a theory of evolution. For example, Lamarck’s theory of evolution was much discussed when Darwin was a young man in medical school. What was Lamarck’s theory and how did it differ from Darwin’s theory? Were there any points of similarity or agreement? Species change over time in a way that tracks changes in their environment. Lamarck also said that organisms have an internal drive to evolve (spontaneous generation) and adapt to their environment. He also said that organisms started out simple but gradually became more complex. Darwin said that they evolved from a common ancestor. Darwin didn’t think the evolution process was goal oriented. There can be inheritance of acquired characteristics. Similarities are inheritance from parents, inheritance of personality traits; species are capable of limitless change over time, species change to their environment. 2. Darwin became familiar with William Paley’s “Natural Theology” while at Cambridge studying to become a clergyman. Explain the motivation behind “natural theology” and articulate the “argument from design”. How did Paley’s ideas continue to influence Darwin as he developed his theory of evolution through natural selection? How does Darwin explain adaptations without appealing to a designer? Natural theology is the theory of looking to nature for the evidence of the existence of god (god made everything). His intelligent design (the watch) is that an intelligent designer must have created things created with a purpose, and it relates to organisms because organisms function to survive and if organisms were made with that purpose then there must have been an intelligent designer for organisms. Paley’s ideas influenced Darwin’s theory by proposing the idea that the mechanism of natural selection takes the place of god as the intelligent creator. Darwin explains adaptations by saying that favorable traits will remain, and less favorable traits will die out. 3. Another influence on Darwin was geologist Charles Lyell. Unlike Adam Sedgwick, another prominent geologist of th