How did Charles Darwin's explanation for the origin of species differ from Louis Agassiz's view?

Louis Agassiz and Charles Darwin held fundamentally opposing views on the origin of species. While Darwin proposed that species evolve through interactions between populations and their environments, Agassiz rejected this doctrine of evolution in favor of special creation.1

The differences in their perspectives include:

• Mechanism of Change: Darwin argued that environmental and physical events drive organic change and the development of new species. Conversely, Agassiz believed that while physical events like glaciers or climatic shifts could cause extinctions, they could not create new life forms.1
• Divine Intervention: Agassiz viewed the organic world as a series of independent interventions by a supreme being. He famously described each species as a "thought of God" and interpreted anatomical homologies as "associations of ideas in the Divine Mind," rather than evidence of common ancestry.1
• Continuity: Because Agassiz maintained that species were created independently, he denied any hereditary continuity between different types of organisms, a concept central to Darwin’s theory.1

Agassiz’s adherence to catastrophism and Platonic idealism prevented him from accepting the scientific shift toward evolutionary biology.1