Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829),
a French zoologist, proposed that life took on its current form through natural processes, not through miraculous interventions. British naturalists, though steeped in natural theology, thought this appalling. as they believed that nature was a reflection of God's benevolent design. To them, Lamarck seemed to claim that nature was the result of blind primal forces. Thus, Lamarck was rejected by some on religious grounds and shunned by scientists for lack of deductive rigor in his arguments. Lamarck died in 1829 in poverty and obscurity.
Lamarck explicitly addressed the materialistic and evolutionary journey of human beings from other animals. He wrote:
“It would be an easy task to show that the characteristics in the organization of man, on account of which the human species and races are grouped as a distinct family, are all results of former changes of occupation, and of acquired habits, which have come to be distinctive of individuals of his kind. When, compelled by circumstances, the most highly developed apes accustomed themselves to walking erect, they gained the ascendant over the other animals. The absolute advantage they enjoyed, and the new requirements imposed on them, made them change their mode of life, which resulted in the gradual modification of their organization, and in their acquiring many new qualities, and among them the wonderful power of speech.”
