Free Essay with a Summary of "Plato to Darwin to DNA: A Brief History"

The book titled Plato to Darwin to DNA: A Brief History by Muehlbauer Esther is a short history of the existence of a human being from historical era to modern times. The book indicates that the most significant development in life took place at a time when discipline such as philosophy was not appreciated. However, as time went by, some philosophers such as Heraclitus, who lived during the 19th century and emerged as a field of study that supported professional thinking hence the emergence and development of psychology. He promoted the controversial idea that everything in the world undergoes continuous change and flux is the only universal thing. Heraclitus also stated that living organisms are changing substance such as air and fire. This era was followed by the contributions by another philosopher named Parmenides who strongly opposed the ideas of continuous change in living organism. He believed that there were no such things as change and that the notions of change were contributions of human interpretations. According to him, changes involved living things becoming what was previously not there, but people are not able to become what was not there in the first place. Thus, they are not capable of changing.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Another contribution by Plato upheld the idea of change. Plato stated that change occurs when everything passes away, and nothing stagnates in its original states. Plato viewed life as being like the flow of a river and held that no one can enter the same river twice because the water there is in constant motion, which causes a change as the river. He further proposed that all matter and living things go through constant change and that even trees and rocks experience change when their elements are replaced as time elapses. He upheld the ideas of Heraclitus that influx is the only universal thing and added that human being has both internal and external flow which initiates change in their daily lives. Similarly, according to him, internal flux is drawn apart and together hence causing change in living organisms. Other philosophers who also supported the notion that living thins undergo continuous change include Democritus, Pythagoreans and the proposers of Chinese and Indian cultures by stating that living organisms experience different kinds of change that originates from the influence of their environment and the interactions with people of varying cultural backgrounds.

The ideas concerning the change in living organisms were further expanded by the works of Erasmus and Charles Darwin, who believed that change in living organisms was possible. According to these two philosophers and scientists, change in human and living things took place through evolution, which made such bodies transform from tiny living organisms to well-developed species with the capabilities of doing what previous living forms could not do. Erasmus came up with the knowledge of natural selections, which Charles later expounded on to include the theory of survival for the fittest. Charles wrote that every living organism goes through an evolution that is accompanied by the existence of the three objects of desire which include security, hunger, and lust. These three objects act as agents of change in all living things. According to Darwin, in the theory of the survival for the fittest, the stronger species will dominate their habitats and will eventually be improved, hence, experiencing a change in different ways.

On the other hand, Aristotle was a biologist who drew his ideas from his teacher Plato. He also believed in change that takes place among living organism and aimed to explain his ideas based on the concept of life. He started that human and other living things existed through the biological process of fertilization between the male and the female gametes. Aristotle defined life as the power of nourishment and the independent growth and decay. He explains that the egg does not experience growth and only develops or changes once fertilization has taken place. According to him, biology plays an important role in ensuring that living organism experience change of different types. Hence, change in living things is real. The contributions by philosophers and biologist created a way for the explanations of change through the existence of the DNA.

The DNA is the short form for deoxyribonucleic acid and symbolizes how living things go through change. Accord to the scientist who developed the idea of DNA each species has a unique strand of this molecule. On the same note, there exist four types of DNA molecules in each species. These DNA strand molecules take center stage in the development of human beings and other living organisms. Scientist indicates that once the male and the female gametes pair together, their DNA strands also join in pairs hence leading to the formation of a new living organism. This organism will inherit some unique characteristics from it parents but will develop to have different genotypes from that of individual parents. On the same note, the existence of DNA among living organism lead to the development and promote change in a variety of ways.

In conclusion, the three approaches are in agreement that living things do change. Ultimately, as life continue to evolve, tiny creatures are noticed growing and developing to more complex creatures with varied abilities and adaptive features. The evolution theory and biological growth and development prognosis as advanced by the scholar attempt to ascertain that changes are brought about by gradual development within organisms. Additionally, DNA tries to explain aptly the unique identities that do exist within living creatures. In totality, the three approaches are the best shot by the human at explaining life, growth, and development.