AHC: Earlier knowledge of Evolution.

In 1859, Charles Darwin posted his book on the origin of species, this book gave rise to what we know of today as Evolution? BUT, What would happen if Darwinian Evolution was discovered earlier? What would be required in order for evolution as we know it now to be discovered and known?
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
For this to happen earlier,you need an earlier Renaissance equivalent,earlier age of enlightenment equivalent and hence earlier discoveries that succeeded them. Not impossible. But these are the pre requisites.
 
For this to happen earlier,you need an earlier Renaissance equivalent,earlier age of enlightenment equivalent and hence earlier discoveries that succeeded them. Not impossible. But these are the pre requisites.
Evolution could probably be discovered as early as Newton's time. There was already methodical study of natural history (then the term for biology). A book called Historia Piscium was published in 1686 as a comprehensive survey of fish known at the time and this was decades before Linnaeus' system of classification. Full text of Historia Piscium (untranslated, Latin only, but nice pictures): https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/54633295

Carl Linnaeus, who taxonomically grouped humans with apes, as well as grouping all other forms of life by their apparent similarities, could easily hypothesize something similar to Darwinian evolution. Late in his life, however, he was troubled by the fact that plant hybrids could be created by cross pollination. These were varieties that had not existed before. Linnaeus stopped short of concluding that these plants had evolved.

Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) said that living things do change through time. He speculated that this was somehow a result of influences from the environment or even chance. He believed that the earth must be much older than 6000 years. In 1774, in fact, he speculated that the earth must be at least 75,000 years old. He also suggested that humans and apes are related. Buffon was careful to hide his radical views in a limited edition 44 volume natural history book series called Histoire Naturelle (1749-1804). By doing this, he avoided broad public criticism.

Buffon some time before 1788, wrote, "Not only the ass and the horse, but also man, the apes, the quadrupeds, and all the animals might be regarded as constituting but a single family", and later "that man and ape have a common origin", and that "the power of nature...with sufficient time, she has been able from a single being to derive all the other organized beings". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histoire_Naturelle

https://www2.palomar.edu/anthro/evolve/evolve_1.htm

There was methodical-enough study existing in Newton's time and also in the two centuries between him and Darwin that it certainly could have appeared earlier. Arguably Linnaeus could have just arrived to a different conclusion and we have an earlier Darwinism.
 
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Albert.Nik

Banned
@SeaCambrian Yes,agree. But as you would know,Newtonian science itself began during the Age of Enlightenment. Of course,you couldn't have any search for truth through Science before say in 1400s or 1500s due to the religion being strong and abusive in Europe.

So yes. You could have some preliminary knowledge of evolution during the time when Newton put forth his Sciences. But a lot of people if not in majority and especially among the "Pleb" class would still believe in some kind of Spiritual evolution or Evolution with Soul,etc for some time till Genetics,molecular biology,etc take hold after a few decades and you would have people believe and accept the right kind of Evolution.
 
An earlier understanding of deep time. I mean, at least a 100 million, maybe more.

* although around 1900, Lord Kelvin was still dinking around with an estimate of around ? 75 million, from his cooling of metal globes
 
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Gradual change in the fossil record was already known. The concept of selection in a market was already pioneered by Adam Smith in the 1780s. You just need someone to apply this to animals operating in nature's marketplace and the fossil record and you're there.
 
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