"Plato's idealistic views had a profound effect on biology. To him, the structure and form of organisms could
be understood from their function which in turn was designed to achieve ultimate goodness and harmony imposed by an external creator.
Aristotle, the father of biology, expanded this idea to include the development of organisms and the origins of groups of organisms. To Aristotle, the adult form represented the final goal or telos, and the changes occurring during embryological development represented a striving towards the telos and is dictated by the telos.
Aristotle used this idea to develop a "scale of nature," in which he arranged the natural world on a ladder commencing with inanimate matter to plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Among the vertebrates, he placed the fish at the lowest rung of the ladder and humans on the highest rung. This "scale of nature" represents a progression from the most imperfect to the most perfect.
The concepts developed by the Greek philosophers retained their influence well into the 18th century and were nurtured by prominent thinkers such as Goethe (1749-1832), who believed that the origin of each level of organism was based on a fundamental primitive plan—an archetype—from which the more complex features and organisms developed.
Although these naturalistic models of origins have existed for many centuries, only since the work of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) has biological evolution become socially accepted." AmazingDiscoveries
Aristotle, the father of biology, expanded this idea to include the development of organisms and the origins of groups of organisms. To Aristotle, the adult form represented the final goal or telos, and the changes occurring during embryological development represented a striving towards the telos and is dictated by the telos.
Aristotle used this idea to develop a "scale of nature," in which he arranged the natural world on a ladder commencing with inanimate matter to plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Among the vertebrates, he placed the fish at the lowest rung of the ladder and humans on the highest rung. This "scale of nature" represents a progression from the most imperfect to the most perfect.
The concepts developed by the Greek philosophers retained their influence well into the 18th century and were nurtured by prominent thinkers such as Goethe (1749-1832), who believed that the origin of each level of organism was based on a fundamental primitive plan—an archetype—from which the more complex features and organisms developed.
Although these naturalistic models of origins have existed for many centuries, only since the work of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) has biological evolution become socially accepted." AmazingDiscoveries
The foolishness of man perverteth his way:
and his heart fretteth against the LORD.
Proverbs 19:3