In the early 1800s, a number of national schools, each with its own traditions, arose and replaced the Classical School of thought. Although not limited to France, it flourished there. Stressed environmental determinism , i.e. environmental determination of traits. Climate was considered a major factor of the environment. For example, Georges Buffon noted that animals were suited to their environments and viewed them to be the products of the climate they experienced.
Ideas involve recent issues over preadaptive and postadaptive mutations.
Preadaptive mutations occur spontaneously before exposure to the environment in which they are adaptive, and they are fortuitously adaptive. Postadaptive mutations occur after exposure to the environment in which they are adaptive. Clever replica plating experiments of Lederberg and Lederberg provided a test. The eventual failure of the Environmentalist School was its inability to explain the mechanism for the effect of the environment in determining traits. Teleology - structure determined by functional results.