Final answer:
Pre-Darwinian Western views were characterized by anthropocentrism and creationism, with naturalists and geological insights beginning to introduce evolutionary thoughts. Darwin's introduction of natural selection fundamentally altered scientific understanding, leading to modern biological science and overturning prehistoric views.
Step-by-step explanation:
Before Charles Darwin shook the foundations of biological science with his theory of natural selection, Western views on life and the natural world were quite different. Pre-Darwinian Western perspectives were largely centered around anthropocentrism, the belief that humans are the most important entities in the universe. This outlook has been attributed by Lynn White to the Judeo-Christian worldview which placed mankind at the pinnacle of creation. Ideas put forth by various naturalists, including the Comte de Buffon and Erasmus Darwin, along with the geological insights from James Hutton and later Charles Lyell, introduced evolutionary thought and an understanding of Earth’s deep time that laid groundwork for Darwin's ideas.
In response to Darwin's theories, figures like William Paley promoted creationist arguments involving intelligent design. Notably, Paley's Natural Theology posited that the complexity of nature implied the existence of a divine designer. This view was widespread until Darwin and contemporaries such as Alfred Russel Wallace introduced the concept of natural selection. Furthermore, Herbert Spencer's interpretation of Darwin's work, known as Social Darwinism, inaccurately applied biological principles to justify societal hierarchies and colonialist practices.
These prehistoric views eventually gave way to a scientific understanding of evolution, genetics, and the age of the Earth, leading to the modern synthesis of biological science. Darwin's influence was pivotal in this transformation, as his theories prompted a shift from a static view of life to one that appreciates the dynamic processes of change over time.