Lamarckism
1
9.9
- noun
- /ləˈmɑrkɪzəm/
- Specialized
- The idea of Lamarckism suggests that changes developed over an organism's life could be inherited by future generations.
Examples
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Or is Lamarckism just as legitimate as Darwin's theory?
Blog text (9) -
To express interest in group selection was as fatal to a career in evolutionary biology as a defense of Lamarckism.
Blog text (31) -
No organism knows what it has to do; that idea was dispelled over a century ago with the demise of Lamarckism.
Blog text (19) -
Beyond the effects that have a direct relationship to mate selection and breeding success, ecology has a whiff of Lamarckism to me.
Blog text (21) -
The theory of Lamarckism posits that organisms can pass on traits acquired during their lifetime to their offspring.
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Many scientists debate whether Lamarckism accurately describes the process of evolution compared to Darwin's theory.
Synonyms
A theory that says the environment can change an animal or plant and those new traits pass to its children
Compounds
- Specialized
A theory that says the environment can change an animal or plant and those new traits pass to its children
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Lamarckism is named after the French scientist Lamarck and the ending -ism, which means 'belief' or 'theory' as in Buddhism or capitalism. Lamarck thought that animals and plants could pass on traits they gained in life, so Lamarckism is the belief that those acquired traits are passed to their offspring.