Lamarck wasn’t the first to come up with a theory of evolution and Darwin wasn’t right about the mechanism.
Charles Darwin’s grandfather already had a theory of evolution and arguably, even he wasn’t the first.
Charles Darwin wasn’t aware of genes. His idea of inheritance was basically the same as Lamarck’s. Only when Darwin and Mendel were combined, the “modern” theory of evolution was born, the “new synthesis” or something it’s called.
The reason we single out these two isn’t that one was first and one was right, neither was. It’s because of the Great Man of History idea. We could talk about Wallace, how he was on the same path as Darwin but Darwin published first to outcompete him. But we don’t because we like to believe in great thinkers who singlehandedly changed the world.
Lamarck wasn’t the first to come up with a theory of evolution and Darwin wasn’t right about the mechanism.
Charles Darwin’s grandfather already had a theory of evolution and arguably, even he wasn’t the first.
Charles Darwin wasn’t aware of genes. His idea of inheritance was basically the same as Lamarck’s. Only when Darwin and Mendel were combined, the “modern” theory of evolution was born, the “new synthesis” or something it’s called.
The reason we single out these two isn’t that one was first and one was right, neither was. It’s because of the Great Man of History idea. We could talk about Wallace, how he was on the same path as Darwin but Darwin published first to outcompete him. But we don’t because we like to believe in great thinkers who singlehandedly changed the world.