Evolutionary Thought in Ancient Times

EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT IN ANCIENT TIMES

Anaximander of Miletus lived from about 610 BCE to 546 BCE. He was a pre-Socratic philosopher. As mentioned, he believed that life originated in water, with creatures eventually spending more time on land than in the water over time. He believed that man must have been first the child of another type of animal, probably some type of fish, because modern man could not have survived early life on earth if he needed to be cared for as long as humans do before maturity.

Philosophers at the time subscribed to essentialism, which was the belief in the unchanging essences of every living thing. In evolutionary thought, it involved the idea that species characteristics did not change over time but were fixed entities.

Empedocles said that the birth and death experience simple mingled and separated the different elements that make up an organism. He believed that current animals and plants were derived from pieces and parts of older organisms that were mingled inside the embryo.

Empedocles relative contemporaries did not believe this. In fact, Plato and Aristotle said that all things were fixed through divine design. Plato believed in essentialism and some type of creator of all things. He did not believe that species could transform. Aristotle believed in a great ladder of life” or chain of being” that was static over time. He believed that the final form of an organism perfectly served their function. He rejected Empedocles work. Zeno, about a century later, founded the Stoic school of philosophy and agreed with Aristotle. He believed in teleology, in which all features of nature showed evidence of having a purposeful design.

The Roman Empire followed most of the Ancient Greek philosophers when it comes to timeline. Lucretius was one of the Romans who wrote on the development of the earth, humans, and other living things. His approach was purely naturalistic and did not reference any type of supernatural involvement. This work led to the beliefs that came during the Renaissance.

Other theorists of the Roman era belonged to the Stoic school of thought. This included Seneca the Younger, Cicero, and Pliny the Elder. These philosophers influenced Christian thoughts on evolution because their thoughts were largely teleological and based on the theological origin of the different species.

Origen of Alexandria was a third-century church father and Christian philosopher. While he supported the creationist beliefs in the Book of Genesis, he said it was all allegorical and should