Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Proposed an early theory of evolution based on the inheritance of acquired characteristics, though later superseded by Darwin's theory.
Most quoted
"It is not the organs, that is to say, the nature and form of the parts of the body of an animal, which have given rise to its habits and its particular faculties. It is, on the contrary, its habits, its manner of life, and the circumstances in which its ancestors have found themselves, which have, in the course of time, really constituted the form of its body, the number and state of its organs, and, in short, the faculties which it possesses."
— from Philosophie Zoologique, 1809
"Second Law: All the acquisitions or losses wrought by nature on individuals, through the influence of the environment in which their race has long been placed, and hence through the influence of the predominant use or permanent disuse of any organ; all these are preserved by reproduction to the new individuals which arise, provided that the acquired modifications are common to both sexes, or at least to the individuals which produce the young."
— from Philosophie Zoologique, 1809
"It is not the organs, that is to say, the nature and form of the parts of the body, that have given rise to their habits and particular faculties, but it is, on the contrary, their habits, their manner of life, and the circumstances in which the individuals of which the race is formed have found themselves, that have with time constituted the form of the body, the number and state of their organs, and finally the faculties which they possess."
— from Philosophie Zoologique, 1809
All quotes by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (412)
The simplest and least perfect animals have been the first to appear, and the most perfect and complex have only been formed successively and after a long series of generations.
The cause which has progressively developed the animal scale is inherent in life itself.
The order which reigns in living nature is the work of time and of circumstances favorable to life.
The study of nature is an inexhaustible source of delight and of knowledge.
It is by neglecting to observe nature that one falls into error.
The true method of knowledge is to proceed from the known to the unknown.
The animal is a living machine constructed by nature to feel and to act.
The faculty of feeling is the primary and most general faculty of animals, from which all others are derived.
The formation of the most simple animals is directly due to physical causes.
The more one observes, the more one is convinced that nothing in nature is isolated, and that everything is connected by intermediate links.
The state of every living body is the result of the interaction between its organization and the environment in which it lives.
To observe nature, to study her productions, to search for the general and particular laws which govern them, is to engage in the most sublime occupation which the human mind can undertake.
Contemporaries of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Other Biologys born within 50 years of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744–1829).