In the development of biology, there were many obstacles, some of which stemmed from the desire to rig the facts under the divine origin of life. Similar views spilled over into classical and medieval transformism. This teaching, being a strong brake on the development of science, is a philosophical direction on the study of the origin of life. And at first his interpretation was different, close to anti-scientific. However, in modern times, transformism is identified with evolutionary theory and phylogenesis.
Transformism in History
Transformism is a teaching that has undergone many changes, although it almost always had a philosophical character, as it developed in the context of many religious movements. The first stage of transformism is the classical one, which has little in common with science. These are elementary ideas about the transformation of organisms, neglecting their variability. Strictly speaking, it was not possible to observe the variability in humans, because it was impossible to track the appearance of new traits in organisms simply because of the lack of time for observation.
Small organisms were not known at all in the classical period of transformism, because of which there was a theory of spontaneous generation of life. For example, that in a dirty pile of linen lice or rats independently arise. In this form, transformism was transmitted in the Middle Ages. This allowed us to go into the second period of teaching, which is famous for its religiosity and anti-science.
The speculative period of transformism
The doctrine of monads, which developed in the medieval period of transformism, underwent some change in the speculative period. In particular, some of the arguments of naturalists were accepted, which then described only the life cycles of organisms. Of particular interest then was the so-called ontogenetic transformism. This is the doctrine of the development of an organism from its birth to death.
In modern times, this interpretation has changed and covers the period of time from conception to death. The speculative period of transformism, like the previous ones, is famous for its philosophical character, while there are few scientific facts in it. The merit of scientists of this period is the description of the life cycles of organisms, which allowed us to determine the variability in ontogenesis. The same question raised the possibility of changes in the behavior and morphology of many other organisms.
Evolutionary Learning Development
The next stage in the development of transformism is the evolutionary one. It is as close as possible to science and has developed thanks to such persons as Darwin and Lamarck. According to their ideas, transformism is a constant process of variability, which is caused by environmental factors, primarily natural selection. In this regard, the term found its new definition, which resulted in evolutionary theory.
It says that all organisms in one way or another come from elemental forms of life, and the latter are constantly changing and over a huge period of time have evolved to current forms of life. However, such a teaching as classical transformism denied this, because it was not easy for scientists to prove their theories. From this time began the period of using irrefutable facts, the search for which many scientists took up.
A typical example is the shape of a beak in Galapagos finches, which was studied by Darwin. He pointed out that transformism in biology is the phenomenon of the transformation of one organism into another under the influence of external factors. In the case of finches, this stimulus was a different type of food in local birds.
Transformism and Evolutionary Theory
In modern times, the differences between transformism and evolutionary theory are difficult to trace, since the essence of the first concept has been greatly distorted and some conservative scientists have almost come close to the term evolution. However, transformism is more likely called philosophical doctrine, which implies the transformation of one aspect or sign into another, but does not explain the reasons. In contrast, evolutionary theory shows that organisms under conditions of cohabitation in a competitive environment change under the influence of natural selection.
The environment is constantly changing conditions, and this forces organisms to adapt. This does not mean that adaptation is a transformation. Adaptation is the acquisition of new properties, and transformation is the subsequent evolutionary change in the behavioral or nutritional habits of the body. Therefore, evolution is a process of developing physiological characteristics and behavioral reactions, on the basis of which the body is transformed.
The very term transformation in modern conditions should be reviewed in this context. In this regard, it is necessary to use a different interpretation. According to its provisions, transformism is a system of scientific ideas about the continuous change of organisms and their origin from an elementary organic molecule.