How did Charles Darwin’s ideas differ from Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s theory?

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection differed fundamentally from the ideas of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, though there was some overlap in their views on inheritance.12

• Mechanism of Change: Lamarck proposed that species evolved through the "inheritance of acquired characters," suggesting that organisms developed new traits based on environmental needs or habits (use and disuse) and passed these changes directly to their offspring. In contrast, Darwin argued that populations change because individuals with favorable, naturally occurring variations have a better chance of surviving and reproducing in a "struggle for existence," a process he termed natural selection.13
• Role of Environment: While Lamarck believed the environment directly induced changes in an organism's structure, Darwin viewed the environment as a filter that preserves beneficial variations and rejects injurious ones.13
• Inheritance: Interestingly, Darwin did not initially reject the inheritance of acquired characteristics and even proposed a "provisional hypothesis" called pangenesis to explain it. However, his core contribution—natural selection—provided a mechanism for adaptation that did not rely on the inheritance of acquired traits, eventually superseding Lamarckian views as Mendelian genetics and August Weismann’s germ plasm theory discredited the latter.24