Could anyone one of you give me sources on the Aristotelian view of evolution?
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Just try scholar google with e.g. "Aristotle evolution "biology""; the main view is that he is not opposed to the idea. Wikipedia is not a reliable source for the topic as too many Americans have been taught to deny Darwin.sand1– sand12026-04-30 14:55:18 +00:00Commented 21 hours ago
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@sand1 I don't see any evolution denial in the Wikipedia article en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle's_biology . Wikipedia is usually pretty good about avoiding that kind of thing. Aristotle didn't have a concept of Darwinian evolution. Google scholar and Wikipedia are agreed on this. At least one paper available from Google Scholar argues that Aristotle's views could be compatible with evolution, but even that paper agrees that on the face of it Aristotle doesn't account for it. (And how could he? He predated Darwin.)causative– causative ♦2026-04-30 23:29:50 +00:00Commented 13 hours ago
2 Answers
There is no evolution in Aristotle's thought.
The Transmutation of species and transformism are 18th and early 19th-century ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection. [...] In the 10th and 11th centuries, Ibn Miskawayh's Al-Fawz al-Kabir, and the Brethren of Purity's Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity developed ideas about changes in biological species.
And see Aristotle's Biology:
Aristotle stated in the History of Animals that all beings were arranged in a fixed scale of perfection, reflected in their form (eidos). They stretched from minerals to plants and animals, and on up to man, forming the scala naturae or great chain of being. His system had eleven grades, arranged according to the potentiality of each being, expressed in their form at birth. The highest animals gave birth to warm and wet creatures alive, the lowest bore theirs cold, dry, and in thick eggs.
See also The Great Chain of Being for ancient view about the "organization" of life and creatures.
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1Aristotle based his cosmology in part on the work of Empedocles who did suggest a form of evolution complete with survival of the fittest, although, of course, he didn't use that term.David Gudeman– David Gudeman2026-04-30 20:42:07 +00:00Commented 16 hours ago
You ask:
What is the Aristotelian perspective on evolution?
While there were several thinkers that teased the ideas that Charles Darwin would eventually go on to advocate for in his Origin of the Species, Aristotle himself a notable "biologist" of the ancient world argued for fixed notions of space and time that make it hard to conceive of evolution. The Greeks, particularly the pre-Socratics were notoriously diverse in their views of the cosmos with thinkers like Heraclitus arguing for constant change, where as Aristotle, who came later, saw things as much more fixed.
There were some thinkers who did signal the coming insight of biological evolution thousands of years later. Empedocles, for instance, was a naturalist who believed that the fundamental elements led to changes and the appearances of living organisms. This naturalist approach of seeing life as originating from simple primitives through changes in underlying structure might arguably be a first-step towards evolution. From WP:
Empedocles attempted to explain the separation of elements, the formation of earth and sea, of Sun and Moon, of atmosphere. He also dealt with the first origin of plants and animals, and with the physiology of humans. As the elements entered into combinations, there appeared strange results—heads without necks, arms without shoulders. Then as these fragmentary structures met, there were seen horned heads on human bodies, bodies of oxen with human heads, and figures of double sex. But most of these products of natural forces disappeared as suddenly as they arose; only in those rare cases where the parts were found to be adapted to each other did the complex structures last. Thus the organic universe sprang from spontaneous aggregations that suited each other as if this had been intended. Soon various influences reduced creatures of double sex to a male and a female, and the world was replenished with organic life.
Thus, for Empedocles, these changes were conceived of on a very short time scale, which stands in opposition to the slow, lengthy process of natural selection proposed by Darwin. What is necessary conceptually to get to natural selection and evolution is the notion of extremely slow and sublte change. Interestingly, a knowledge of genes isn't required. From WP:
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in the relative fitness endowed on them by their own particular complement of observable characteristics. It is a key law or mechanism of evolution which changes the heritable traits characteristic of a population or species over generations. Charles Darwin popularised the term "natural selection", contrasting it with artificial selection, which is intentional, whereas natural selection is not. [emphasis mine]
Note, the slow change "over generations" that stands in opposition to Aristotle's more fixed notion of the biological structures of life.
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Congrats on finding Empedocles who is usually overlooked.David Gudeman– David Gudeman2026-04-30 20:49:32 +00:00Commented 16 hours ago
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Evolution doesn't necessarily require such long time intervals; it depends on what the change mechanism is. Darwin thought it was just the normal fluidity of life, that children always differ slightly from their parents. The discovery of genes falsified Darwin's theory, which was then replaced by a new theory involving genetic mutations. That theory has been falsified with the discovery of epigenetic mechanisms. There is currently no viable theory that works within the time available and no theory that accounts for the fossil record and it's constant abrupt appearances of new forms.David Gudeman– David Gudeman2026-04-30 20:52:16 +00:00Commented 16 hours ago
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1@DavidGudeman I concede that Drosphilia requires no great span of time, and it is true that artificial selection can certainly demonstrate the power of selection on morphology and so on. Too do I concede that this response to the post leaves out the nuances of the history of evolution as a concept. But from the earliest forms of life to Homo sapiens certainly couldn't occur on a time scale intuitive to a folk biological understanding of life. As for the theory of evolution, I personally reject the Institute for Creation Research and similar religiously inspired quibbles...J D– J D2026-04-30 21:15:26 +00:00Commented 15 hours ago
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1Evangelicals may have worked themselves up into a froth over the matter, but it's not only accepted by the majority of practicing Christians, but is rather well accepted in the international community. Certainly by the NAS: for the OP Science, Evolution, and Creationism is a good start.J D– J D2026-04-30 21:21:29 +00:00Commented 15 hours ago
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@DavidGudeman: The theory of genetic mutation was expanded, not replaced, by epigenetic mechanisms. The combined theory is no less viable over this time period than mutation alone, arguably more so. Regarding abrupt appearance of new forms: more than adequately dealt with by the fact that we have extremely scattered samples over time; the duration between those samples is generally huge by human standards. You can disbelieve, but it has not been refuted.keshlam– keshlam2026-04-30 22:28:54 +00:00Commented 14 hours ago