Theories of evolution started before Darwin’s specific one by natural selection. The most prominent and perhaps influential on Darwin was Lamarck’s theory of “evolution by willing”, or that physical changes during an animal’s lifetime would be passed to offspring, in that it laid the foundation for his more developed explanation for evolution (Mayr, 1982). Darwin believed in evolution several before developing his theory of natural selection, he objected to Lamarck’s theory due to the lack of evidence of some mechanism from this process. He eventually realized that individual differences were key, he learned this from animal breeders and artificial selection because breeders would select individuals with positive traits they desired to breed (Mayr, 1982).
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Despite the importance of natural selection in evolution it did not provide a full answer, there were still questions about how these differing traits could be passed from parent to offspring. During Darwin’s time the prevailing theory was blended inheritance by which two parent’s traits would meet in the middle in the offspring however many people during the time period, including Darwin, found flaws with this reasoning for example that it would eventually lead to all organisms being the
Despite the importance of natural selection in evolution it did not provide a full answer, there were still questions about how these differing traits could be passed from parent to offspring. During Darwin’s time the prevailing theory was blended inheritance by which two parent’s traits would meet in the middle in the offspring however many people during the time period, including Darwin, found flaws with this reasoning for example that it would eventually lead to all organisms being the