User:Austin.larsen/sandbox

Early life edit

George Romanes was the last born in a line of three children in 1848, into a wealthy, well educated family. During his early life he aspired to involve himself with religion by becoming a clergyman. During Romanes's adolescent years he was influenced by extensive travel and intellectual environments. His parents soon moved from his birth place in Kingston Ontario to Cornwall Terrace in United Kingdom. This had set Romanes on the path to develop a fruitful and lasting relationship with Charles Darwin. During his youth, Romanes often traveled to and shortly resided in Germany and Italy, cultivating his fluency in both languages along the way. When Romanes decided to take up his study in science, abandoning his prior ambition to be a clergyman, he began his work on evolution. Romanes's friend, Charles Darwin, had a great influence on his studies and served as a mentor.^[1] Forging a relationship with Darwin was not difficult for Romanes with his inherited “sweetness of temper and calmness of manner” from his Father, reported in his book The Life and Letters of George John Romanes. Romanes's early education was inconsistent and was often in the public schools. Consequently, he was home schooled for half of his education. At this time he developed a love for pottery and music which he excelled at. However, his true passion resided elsewhere; he soon began his study of medicine and physiology at Cambridge University(1867-1873). Romanes was not fully educated and struggled to flourish. This did not hinder his university experience as a whole because he still remained heavily involved in extracurricular activities such as boating and debate club.

Professional life edit

Romanes's and Darwin's relationship developed quickly and they became close friends. This relationship began when Romanes became Darwin's research assistant during the last eight years of Darwin’s life. The association Romanes had with Darwin was essential in Darwin's later works. Therefore, Darwin confided volumes of unpublished work which Romanes later used to publish papers. Like Darwin, Romanes's theories were met with skepticism and were not accepted initially.^[1] The majority of Romanes's work attempted to make a connection between animal consciousness and human consciousness. Some problems were encountered during his research that he addressed with the development of physiological selection. This was Romanes's answer to three questions raised about Darwin’s isolation theory. The questions were: species characteristics that have no evolutionary purpose, the wide spread fact of inter-specific sterility, and the need for varieties to escape the swamping effects of inter-crossing after permanent species are established. At the end of his career the majority of his work was directed towards the development of a relationship between intelligence and placement on an evolutionary tree.^[2] Romanes believed that the further along an organism was on an evolutionary standpoint, the more likely that organism would be to possess a higher level of functioning.

Family edit

Romanes was the last child born of three children from George Romanes and Isabella Gair Smith. The majority of his immediate and extended family were descendant from Scottish Highland tribes. His father, Reverend George Romanes, was a professor at Queens College in Kingston, Canada and taught Greek at the local university until the family moved back to England. Romanes and his wife Ethel Mary Duncan were wed on February 11th, 1879. Both Romanes' mother and father were involved in the Protestant and Anglican Church during his childhood. Romanes was baptized Anglican and was heavily involved with the Anglican teachings during his youth, despite the fact his parents were not heavily involved with any religion.^[3] Speculated by Elizabeth J. Barns in the paper The Early Career of George John Romanes, Darwin may have been viewed as a father figure to Romanes. Darwin did not agree with the teachings of the catholic church because of the fundamental teachings were not supported by his scientific findings at the time. This could explain Romanes' conversion to agnosticism. Surely this is not the only reason for Romanes altered belief, for Romanes had to poses some element of free thinking.

Philosophical and political views edit

When Romanes attended Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, Ontario, he entered into an essay contest on the topic of “Christian Prayer considered in relation to the belief that Almighty governs the world by general laws".^[4] Romanes didn't have much hope in winning, but much to his surprise he took first place in this contest and received the Burney prize. After winning the Burney prize, Romanes came to the conclusion that he could no longer be faithful to his Christianity religion due to his love and commitment for science. This is interesting due to the fact that when Romanes was growing up, his father was a Reverend. Therefore, Romanes went into great detail about religion and how all aspects of the mind need to be involved to be faithfully committed to religion in his book Thoughts on Religion. He believed that you had to have an extremely high level of will to be dedicated to God or Christ.^[5]

Published works edit

When Charles Darwin died, Romanes took over Darwin’s theories and solved many of the criticisms that were proposed by other psychologists about Darwin’s theories. He did so by going further into Darwin’s studies and theories. The most famous theories that Romanes studied further into was Darwin’s theories of evolution and natural selection. In result of these theories Romanes was able to define a discipline of psychology known as comparative psychology which is the study of similarities and differences of the cognitive and physical functions in humans and various animals. In which he wrote many successful books and articles on. One of the most famous books written by Romanes on this theory was called Animal Intelligence. Where it goes into great depth of his theories and his findings on the cognitive function of various animals.^[6] Romanes also wrote a book on Mental Evolution in Animals. This is where he defined his studies and findings on the evolution of the cognitive and physical functioning of various animals over many years. Romanes believed that the intelligence and instincts of animals have evolved through positive reinforcement over the years.^[7] Following this book he wrote and published Mental Evolution in Man which was more focused on how the cognitive and physical functions among man has evolved over the years.^[8] Romanes also received this idea from Darwin. Therefore, Romanes authored and published Darwin, and After Darwin in 1890.^[9]

Romanes was looking specifically at the relationship between science and religion when he died. All of his notes on this subject were left to Charles Gore. In which Gore published them under George Romanes and edited by Charles Gore in a book titled Thoughts on Religion.^[5] Another famous book that is all about Romanes's life is The Life and Letters of George Romanes.^[1] This book was written and edited by his wife talking about Romanes' entire life. This insightful book gives insight about his life from the beginning to the very end. These are just a handful of the many inspiring and intellectual books and articles written by George Romanes over his lifetime.

Accomplishments edit

1879: Romanes was selected for the Fellow of the Royal Society.^[6]
1886-1890: Romanes was a professor at University of Edinburgh.^[6]
1892: When he was a professor at the University of Oxford, Romanes created a series of lectures known as Romanes Lectures.^[10]
- These lectures are currently still held once a year in memory of Romanes.
Romanes is also known for creating the following words and meanings:
- Anthropomorphism which is giving animal's human-like qualities.^[11]
- Anecdotal method is where you collect data on animal behavior using observational methods.^[11]
He developed the stepping stairs for cognitive development.^[11]

References edit

^ ^a ^b ^c Romanes, Ethel 1896. Life and letters of George John Romanes. Longmans, Green, London. p3
^ Romanes, G. J., & Robinson, D. N. (1977). Animal intelligence. Washington, D.C.: University Publications of America.
^ Barnes, Elizabeth 1998. The Early Career of George John Romanes. Newnham College, London
^ McGrew, Timothy. “A Pilgrim’s Regress: George John Romanes and the Search for Rational Faith” The Christendom Review. 2(2): 2009.
^ ^a ^b Romanes, G. J., & Gore, C. (1902). Thoughts on religion (5th ed.). Chicago, Ill.: Open court Pub. Co.
^ ^a ^b ^c Abbott, C. (n.d.). George Romanes. Psychology History.
^ Romanes, George, (1893). Mental Evolution in animals. London: Degan Paul, trench, Trubner & Co.
^ 1911 EncyclopÃ¦dia Britannica/Romanes, George John. (n.d.). Wikisource.
^ Romanes, George, (1897). Darwin and after Darwin. Chicago: The Open Court Publishing Co.
^ Rees, L. (2011, November 2). The Romanes Lecture - Lord Rees. - University of Oxford.
^ ^a ^b ^c Marcum, A., & Bradley, M. (n.d.). Psyography: Biographies on Psychologists. Psyography: Biographies on Psychologists.