Final answer:
Pre-Darwinian views included the static nature of species, ideas about evolution by naturalists such as Buffon and Erasmus Darwin, Hutton's gradual geological change, and Lyell's arguments for an ancient Earth.
Step-by-step explanation:
Before Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution by natural selection, there were several pre-Darwinian views of the natural world. Four of these views are:
- Species were static and unchanging, a view grounded in the writings of Plato and biblical accounts.
- The introduction of the idea of evolution of animals by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, and Erasmus Darwin in the eighteenth century.
- James Hutton's proposal that geological change was gradual and accumulated over long periods, contrasts with the belief in a young Earth shaped by catastrophic events.
- Charles Lyell's popularization of Hutton's ideas and argument for an older Earth, providing more time for the gradual change in species.
These ideas shaped the scientific context within which Darwin developed his revolutionary concept of natural selection.