Lamarckism

Lamarckism is an evolutionary theory in which organisms change through use and disuse of organs and pass acquired characteristics to their offspring.

Use and disuse: The idea that frequently used organs become stronger or larger, while unused organs weaken or diminish. Lamarck proposed that an organ’s use or neglect directly changes its development.
Philosophie zoologique: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s 1809 book presenting his theory of species transformation. It is the principal work in which Lamarck articulated his evolutionary explanation.
Darwinism: Evolutionary ideas associated with Charles Darwin, especially descent with modification and natural selection. Darwin’s central mechanism, natural selection, does not require acquired traits to be inherited.
Epigenetic inheritance: The transmission across generations of gene-regulation states that do not involve changes to DNA sequence. Some inherited epigenetic effects resemble acquired inheritance, but do not establish classical Lamarckism.
Inheritance of acquired characteristics: The proposed transmission to offspring of traits an organism acquired during its lifetime. This inheritance principle carries changes produced by use and disuse into later generations.
Transformism: The historical view that species change over time and can give rise to other species. Lamarckism was a prominent early form of transformism.
Natural selection: The process by which heritable variants associated with greater reproductive success become more common in populations. It explains adaptation through differential reproduction rather than bodily change caused by use.
August Weismann: A German biologist who argued that hereditary material passes through germ cells rather than ordinary body cells. His experiments and germ-plasm theory became major objections to direct inheritance of acquired bodily traits.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck: A French naturalist who developed an early systematic theory of biological evolution. His writings set out the theory now known as Lamarckism.
Buffon’s theory of species change: Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon’s proposals that species might change under environmental influences. Buffon’s earlier speculations helped establish a context for Lamarck’s more systematic theory.

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