Jan Sapp
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195156195
- eISBN:
- 9780199790340
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195156195.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter discusses how Darwin succeeded in capturing a wide audience of scientists and non-scientists. Darwinian theory was used to support all types of political and ideological positions, from ...
More
This chapter discusses how Darwin succeeded in capturing a wide audience of scientists and non-scientists. Darwinian theory was used to support all types of political and ideological positions, from the most reactionary to the most progressive, including racism, militarism, laissez-faire economics, unfettered capitalism, Marxism, and anarchism. Laissez-faire economic theory, social Darwinism, application of Darwinism in international relations, political left's embrace of Darwinian theory, and debates over whether Darwin himself was a social Darwinist.Less
This chapter discusses how Darwin succeeded in capturing a wide audience of scientists and non-scientists. Darwinian theory was used to support all types of political and ideological positions, from the most reactionary to the most progressive, including racism, militarism, laissez-faire economics, unfettered capitalism, Marxism, and anarchism. Laissez-faire economic theory, social Darwinism, application of Darwinism in international relations, political left's embrace of Darwinian theory, and debates over whether Darwin himself was a social Darwinist.
Kevin M. Schultz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195342536
- eISBN:
- 9780199867042
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195342536.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In “Godlessness and the Scopes Trial,” Kevin M. Schultz examines the most famous battle over religion in the 1920s, and perhaps the most famous battle in the entirety of the twentieth century, the ...
More
In “Godlessness and the Scopes Trial,” Kevin M. Schultz examines the most famous battle over religion in the 1920s, and perhaps the most famous battle in the entirety of the twentieth century, the Monkey Scopes Trial of 1925. Schultz shows how the two sides that hogged the limelight during the debate—the thankful godlessness of Clarence Darrow and puritanical jeremiads of William Jennings Bryan—have crowded out a third tradition that was burgeoning in the 1920s, a tradition that matured into mainline liberal Protestantism. Schultz also explains that Bryan's fear of evolution had more to do with Bryan's opposition to the then‐respectable tradition of Social Darwinism, and not his fear that the Darwin account de‐centered man in the Biblical story of creation. Bryan's fear, thus, was not the damnation that would result from rising secularism but rather of the effect of exposing America's school children exposed to the dangerous notion that only the fittest will survive—a notion that potentially invalidates any attempt at social welfare.Less
In “Godlessness and the Scopes Trial,” Kevin M. Schultz examines the most famous battle over religion in the 1920s, and perhaps the most famous battle in the entirety of the twentieth century, the Monkey Scopes Trial of 1925. Schultz shows how the two sides that hogged the limelight during the debate—the thankful godlessness of Clarence Darrow and puritanical jeremiads of William Jennings Bryan—have crowded out a third tradition that was burgeoning in the 1920s, a tradition that matured into mainline liberal Protestantism. Schultz also explains that Bryan's fear of evolution had more to do with Bryan's opposition to the then‐respectable tradition of Social Darwinism, and not his fear that the Darwin account de‐centered man in the Biblical story of creation. Bryan's fear, thus, was not the damnation that would result from rising secularism but rather of the effect of exposing America's school children exposed to the dangerous notion that only the fittest will survive—a notion that potentially invalidates any attempt at social welfare.
Michael Freeden
- Published in print:
- 1986
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198229612
- eISBN:
- 9780191678899
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198229612.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The claim that biology supported ethics, and the integration of both is within the liberal outlook, vastly increased the persuasive power of the liberal argument. This chapter considers the role of ...
More
The claim that biology supported ethics, and the integration of both is within the liberal outlook, vastly increased the persuasive power of the liberal argument. This chapter considers the role of biology in liberal social thought. The first section discusses the natural laws of social life. The second section describes the controversies of social Darwinism. The third section compares reform and determinism on orthogenic evolution. The last section deals with liberal organicism, considering Ritchie's idealist evolutionism, Hobson's science and the art of welfare, the general will of the community, and the reformulation of liberalism. The revival of the concept of evolution was the prime contribution of biology to 19th-century civilization. The names most obviously connected with the revolution in the modes and foci of 19th-century English thought are Darwin, and then Spencer and Malthus.Less
The claim that biology supported ethics, and the integration of both is within the liberal outlook, vastly increased the persuasive power of the liberal argument. This chapter considers the role of biology in liberal social thought. The first section discusses the natural laws of social life. The second section describes the controversies of social Darwinism. The third section compares reform and determinism on orthogenic evolution. The last section deals with liberal organicism, considering Ritchie's idealist evolutionism, Hobson's science and the art of welfare, the general will of the community, and the reformulation of liberalism. The revival of the concept of evolution was the prime contribution of biology to 19th-century civilization. The names most obviously connected with the revolution in the modes and foci of 19th-century English thought are Darwin, and then Spencer and Malthus.
Rana Mitter
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199251209
- eISBN:
- 9780191599293
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199251207.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Mitter's study argues that until the late Qing, concepts of international order and justice were alien to China's imperial rulers. Subsequently, however, in the nineteenth and early twentieth ...
More
Mitter's study argues that until the late Qing, concepts of international order and justice were alien to China's imperial rulers. Subsequently, however, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, China perceived itself to be the victim in an unjust world of aggressive, powerful, Western states. Contemporary Chinese perceptions of a just international order have been shaped by such past experiences and encompass a strong element of restitution. Its justice claims start with the Chinese state itself rather than with the needs of a broader global community.Less
Mitter's study argues that until the late Qing, concepts of international order and justice were alien to China's imperial rulers. Subsequently, however, in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, China perceived itself to be the victim in an unjust world of aggressive, powerful, Western states. Contemporary Chinese perceptions of a just international order have been shaped by such past experiences and encompass a strong element of restitution. Its justice claims start with the Chinese state itself rather than with the needs of a broader global community.
Katherine Adams
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195336801
- eISBN:
- 9780199868360
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195336801.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 19th Century Literature
This chapter traces developments in U.S. privacy discourse from the antebellum period, through Reconstruction, and into the 1890s. Taking ...
More
This chapter traces developments in U.S. privacy discourse from the antebellum period, through Reconstruction, and into the 1890s. Taking Louisa May Alcott's novels Little Men (1871) andJo's Boys (1886) as its focus, it contrasts the romantic nationalism of early privacy discourse against the conception of privacy that emerges with laissez-faire and social Darwinist ideology. Heavily marketed for their autobiographical content, Alcott's novels exploit the public taste for private disclosure while also thematizing that very act by depicting the production and circulation of life narrative within Plumfield School. Like her father, the failed communitarian Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott is concerned with the conjunction of privacy, property, and market capitalism—particularly as this implicates female authorship. But she theorizes the experience of a priori unity as an effect, rather than a casualty, of self-publication and mass consumption. In her earlier work Alcott presents this view with great optimism, imagining the marketing of privacy as the basis for a just and racially integrated polis. At the end of her career, however, this same interarticulation of symbolic and material economies is portrayed as exclusionary and oppressive.Less
This chapter traces developments in U.S. privacy discourse from the antebellum period, through Reconstruction, and into the 1890s. Taking Louisa May Alcott's novels Little Men (1871) andJo's Boys (1886) as its focus, it contrasts the romantic nationalism of early privacy discourse against the conception of privacy that emerges with laissez-faire and social Darwinist ideology. Heavily marketed for their autobiographical content, Alcott's novels exploit the public taste for private disclosure while also thematizing that very act by depicting the production and circulation of life narrative within Plumfield School. Like her father, the failed communitarian Bronson Alcott, Louisa May Alcott is concerned with the conjunction of privacy, property, and market capitalism—particularly as this implicates female authorship. But she theorizes the experience of a priori unity as an effect, rather than a casualty, of self-publication and mass consumption. In her earlier work Alcott presents this view with great optimism, imagining the marketing of privacy as the basis for a just and racially integrated polis. At the end of her career, however, this same interarticulation of symbolic and material economies is portrayed as exclusionary and oppressive.
Stephen C. Barton
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195383355
- eISBN:
- 9780199870561
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195383355.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies, History of Christianity
Beginning with Darwin's almost religious awe at the wonder of natural selection, this chapter moves to an account of the ambiguous legacy of Darwin's views on gender, including the support they ...
More
Beginning with Darwin's almost religious awe at the wonder of natural selection, this chapter moves to an account of the ambiguous legacy of Darwin's views on gender, including the support they offered to a Victorian separate-spheres ideology and to theories and practices associated with Social Darwinism, such as eugenics. It then considers the wider history of gender before and after Darwin, running from the classical tradition through the biblical tradition, Hellenistic Judaism, and early Christianity to the universalizing tendencies of modernity and the postmodern destabilizing of gender in the interests of identity politics as represented by Judith Butler. A final section reflects on the possibility of reading and practicing "male and female" well in the light of this discomforting narrative. A Christological and eschatological hermeneutics is offered as a contribution to performing gender in ways that begin to do justice to the body's grace.Less
Beginning with Darwin's almost religious awe at the wonder of natural selection, this chapter moves to an account of the ambiguous legacy of Darwin's views on gender, including the support they offered to a Victorian separate-spheres ideology and to theories and practices associated with Social Darwinism, such as eugenics. It then considers the wider history of gender before and after Darwin, running from the classical tradition through the biblical tradition, Hellenistic Judaism, and early Christianity to the universalizing tendencies of modernity and the postmodern destabilizing of gender in the interests of identity politics as represented by Judith Butler. A final section reflects on the possibility of reading and practicing "male and female" well in the light of this discomforting narrative. A Christological and eschatological hermeneutics is offered as a contribution to performing gender in ways that begin to do justice to the body's grace.
Julia Adeney Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228542
- eISBN:
- 9780520926844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228542.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter examines the views of Japanese politician Katō Hiroyuki about nature. It explains that in 1881 Hiroyuki turned decidedly in favor of autocratic control, relying in large part on Social ...
More
This chapter examines the views of Japanese politician Katō Hiroyuki about nature. It explains that in 1881 Hiroyuki turned decidedly in favor of autocratic control, relying in large part on Social Darwinism, and that he claimed that oligarchic rule was the correct form of government for Meiji Japan according to the dictates of natural evolution. The chapter discusses the opposition of Baba Tatsui, Ueki Emori, and others who found in nature a tool against Hiroyuki and against oligarchic power, and suggests that the 1881–1883 debate was a contest over definitions of nature, with all sides seeking to assert nature as they defined it.Less
This chapter examines the views of Japanese politician Katō Hiroyuki about nature. It explains that in 1881 Hiroyuki turned decidedly in favor of autocratic control, relying in large part on Social Darwinism, and that he claimed that oligarchic rule was the correct form of government for Meiji Japan according to the dictates of natural evolution. The chapter discusses the opposition of Baba Tatsui, Ueki Emori, and others who found in nature a tool against Hiroyuki and against oligarchic power, and suggests that the 1881–1883 debate was a contest over definitions of nature, with all sides seeking to assert nature as they defined it.
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226076409
- eISBN:
- 9780226076379
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226076379.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
This chapter elaborates upon issues touched by Richard Hofstadter in his work Social Darwinism in American Thought, 1860–1915. As he searched for a dissertation topic in the late spring of 1940, ...
More
This chapter elaborates upon issues touched by Richard Hofstadter in his work Social Darwinism in American Thought, 1860–1915. As he searched for a dissertation topic in the late spring of 1940, Richard Hofstadter sensed a fundamental shift in American life. Waspdom was breaking up; however, the subject, and its extraordinary implications linking the Anglo past to the ethnic present, never ceased to interest him. Social Darwinism is much more than a review of capitalist apologia. A product of the 1930s struggle to carve out a new liberal tradition, the book responded to the political and intellectual milieu that shaped its author's youthful interaction with a tumultuous era. Social Darwinism, which Hofstadter completed at the age of twenty six, played nicely to Hofstadter's talent for using irony as a tool for insight. The plutocrats who exploited the nation's uniquely egalitarian principles to make their fortunes, he pointed out, had shown their gratitude by building an industrial regime hostile to future social mobility. The acceptance of Social Darwinism in America relied on more than popular veneration for individual rights, however, and it also tapped into the country's Protestant heritage.Less
This chapter elaborates upon issues touched by Richard Hofstadter in his work Social Darwinism in American Thought, 1860–1915. As he searched for a dissertation topic in the late spring of 1940, Richard Hofstadter sensed a fundamental shift in American life. Waspdom was breaking up; however, the subject, and its extraordinary implications linking the Anglo past to the ethnic present, never ceased to interest him. Social Darwinism is much more than a review of capitalist apologia. A product of the 1930s struggle to carve out a new liberal tradition, the book responded to the political and intellectual milieu that shaped its author's youthful interaction with a tumultuous era. Social Darwinism, which Hofstadter completed at the age of twenty six, played nicely to Hofstadter's talent for using irony as a tool for insight. The plutocrats who exploited the nation's uniquely egalitarian principles to make their fortunes, he pointed out, had shown their gratitude by building an industrial regime hostile to future social mobility. The acceptance of Social Darwinism in America relied on more than popular veneration for individual rights, however, and it also tapped into the country's Protestant heritage.
HOWARD L. KAYE
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195143607
- eISBN:
- 9780199893256
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195143607.003.0015
- Subject:
- Psychology, Neuropsychology
This chapter discusses the biochemical pathways by which spirituality and religious practice exert their influence on health and their implications for medicine, society, and culture. It addresses ...
More
This chapter discusses the biochemical pathways by which spirituality and religious practice exert their influence on health and their implications for medicine, society, and culture. It addresses important and sometimes difficult questions, including how physicians and health care systems should utilize such information in their care of patients, and draws comparisons with social Darwinism and the eugenics movement of the 19th century. The chapter expresses concern about the utilitarian use of religion to improve health or immune functioning. Although the medical, philosophical and cultural implications of psychoneuroimmunology research into the impact of religion on health would appear to be vast and wholly beneficial, it is important to exercise caution whenever we speak of science's human implications.Less
This chapter discusses the biochemical pathways by which spirituality and religious practice exert their influence on health and their implications for medicine, society, and culture. It addresses important and sometimes difficult questions, including how physicians and health care systems should utilize such information in their care of patients, and draws comparisons with social Darwinism and the eugenics movement of the 19th century. The chapter expresses concern about the utilitarian use of religion to improve health or immune functioning. Although the medical, philosophical and cultural implications of psychoneuroimmunology research into the impact of religion on health would appear to be vast and wholly beneficial, it is important to exercise caution whenever we speak of science's human implications.
Julia Adeney Thomas
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520228542
- eISBN:
- 9780520926844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520228542.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter explores a hiatus in nature's overt political presence in Japan after around 1890 and until the Russo-Japanese War. It argues that the Social Darwinian concept of nature proved so ...
More
This chapter explores a hiatus in nature's overt political presence in Japan after around 1890 and until the Russo-Japanese War. It argues that the Social Darwinian concept of nature proved so detrimental to nationalistic aspirations that it was disregarded during the 1890s, and describes the development of a more nationalistic and useful concept of nature related to Japanese culture. The chapter contends that Japan's twentieth-century sense of nature was a new creation configured in reaction against Social Darwinism and in conformity with the requirements of national pride.Less
This chapter explores a hiatus in nature's overt political presence in Japan after around 1890 and until the Russo-Japanese War. It argues that the Social Darwinian concept of nature proved so detrimental to nationalistic aspirations that it was disregarded during the 1890s, and describes the development of a more nationalistic and useful concept of nature related to Japanese culture. The chapter contends that Japan's twentieth-century sense of nature was a new creation configured in reaction against Social Darwinism and in conformity with the requirements of national pride.
Marion Elizabeth Rodgers
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195072389
- eISBN:
- 9780199787982
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195072389.003.0011
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
In 1908, Mencken was asked to become the new literary critic of The Smart Set magazine. Over the next fifteen years, Mencken would write 182 essays in which he reviewed some 2,000 books. The Smart ...
More
In 1908, Mencken was asked to become the new literary critic of The Smart Set magazine. Over the next fifteen years, Mencken would write 182 essays in which he reviewed some 2,000 books. The Smart Set gave Mencken a national venue to express his controversial views on American literature. He also met George Jean Nathan, a theater critic, and the two became fast friends. Mencken worked on his fourth book, Men Versus the Man, where he presents his views on individualism, Social Darwinism, and race.Less
In 1908, Mencken was asked to become the new literary critic of The Smart Set magazine. Over the next fifteen years, Mencken would write 182 essays in which he reviewed some 2,000 books. The Smart Set gave Mencken a national venue to express his controversial views on American literature. He also met George Jean Nathan, a theater critic, and the two became fast friends. Mencken worked on his fourth book, Men Versus the Man, where he presents his views on individualism, Social Darwinism, and race.
Herbert Hovenkamp
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199331307
- eISBN:
- 9780190204495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199331307.003.0002
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History
In the late nineteenth century two powerful and very different ideas changed the course of American legal thought. First was Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which quickly migrated from ...
More
In the late nineteenth century two powerful and very different ideas changed the course of American legal thought. First was Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which quickly migrated from biological evolution to theories about the evolution of norms. The evolved theories took the forms of Social Darwinism and Reform Darwinism.The second idea was marginalist rational actor assumptions that undermined classical political economy by making economics’ theory of value more forward looking and, eventually, more individualistic. Although both movements were driven by an assumption of resource scarcity, they approached the problem in mutually inconsistent ways that few people other than legal scholars were able to harmonize.Less
In the late nineteenth century two powerful and very different ideas changed the course of American legal thought. First was Darwin’s theory of natural selection, which quickly migrated from biological evolution to theories about the evolution of norms. The evolved theories took the forms of Social Darwinism and Reform Darwinism.The second idea was marginalist rational actor assumptions that undermined classical political economy by making economics’ theory of value more forward looking and, eventually, more individualistic. Although both movements were driven by an assumption of resource scarcity, they approached the problem in mutually inconsistent ways that few people other than legal scholars were able to harmonize.
Michael Ruse
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195143584
- eISBN:
- 9780199848119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195143584.003.0015
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
Evolutionary ethics or “social Darwinism” is a powerful and wide-ranging doctrine or set of beliefs. In ethics and morality, it is useful to make a twofold distinction between “substantive” or ...
More
Evolutionary ethics or “social Darwinism” is a powerful and wide-ranging doctrine or set of beliefs. In ethics and morality, it is useful to make a twofold distinction between “substantive” or “normative ethics” and “metaethics.” Darwin himself drew attention to the fact that more organisms are born than can possibly survive and reproduce and that this leads to what Darwin called a “struggle for existence.” Humans cooperate for biological ends, namely that they are “altruists” for their own biological ends.Less
Evolutionary ethics or “social Darwinism” is a powerful and wide-ranging doctrine or set of beliefs. In ethics and morality, it is useful to make a twofold distinction between “substantive” or “normative ethics” and “metaethics.” Darwin himself drew attention to the fact that more organisms are born than can possibly survive and reproduce and that this leads to what Darwin called a “struggle for existence.” Humans cooperate for biological ends, namely that they are “altruists” for their own biological ends.
Partha Mitter
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199595006
- eISBN:
- 9780191731464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199595006.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, African History: BCE to 500CE
The paper traces the process leading to the repudiation of the Afroasiatic roots of Greek civilization in the 19th century. Comparative philology, physical anthropology and biology melded language, ...
More
The paper traces the process leading to the repudiation of the Afroasiatic roots of Greek civilization in the 19th century. Comparative philology, physical anthropology and biology melded language, physical features and culture to create the myth of an original white Aryan race. This racial doctrine was encapsulated by Gobineau: physical beauty (Apollo Belvedere) determined language, culture and intelligence; racial inequality in physical strength, intellect and morality was inherent. Social Darwinism proclaimed that European global domination was proof of the survival of the fittest. The paper finally takes the case of India, the hub of the Aryan Myth. Max Müller located India within Hegelian world history: though they were the original Aryans, Indians failed to progress unlike Europeans. Colonial writers constructed further racial binaries in India – Aryan versus Dravidian or Turanian – two antagonistic races forever separated by colour, cranium, caste and culture, an idea authoritatively employed by James Fergusson in his study of Indian architecture.Less
The paper traces the process leading to the repudiation of the Afroasiatic roots of Greek civilization in the 19th century. Comparative philology, physical anthropology and biology melded language, physical features and culture to create the myth of an original white Aryan race. This racial doctrine was encapsulated by Gobineau: physical beauty (Apollo Belvedere) determined language, culture and intelligence; racial inequality in physical strength, intellect and morality was inherent. Social Darwinism proclaimed that European global domination was proof of the survival of the fittest. The paper finally takes the case of India, the hub of the Aryan Myth. Max Müller located India within Hegelian world history: though they were the original Aryans, Indians failed to progress unlike Europeans. Colonial writers constructed further racial binaries in India – Aryan versus Dravidian or Turanian – two antagonistic races forever separated by colour, cranium, caste and culture, an idea authoritatively employed by James Fergusson in his study of Indian architecture.
Douglas Allchin
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780190490362
- eISBN:
- 9780197559659
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190490362.003.0012
- Subject:
- Education, Teaching of a Specific Subject
It is time to rescue Darwinism from the dismal shadow of Social Darwinism. According to this now widely discredited doctrine, human society is governed by “the survival of the fittest.” Competition ...
More
It is time to rescue Darwinism from the dismal shadow of Social Darwinism. According to this now widely discredited doctrine, human society is governed by “the survival of the fittest.” Competition reigns unchecked. Individualism erodes any effort to cooperate. Ethics and morality become irrelevant. Some contend that social competition is the very engine of human “progress,” and hence any effort to regulate it cannot be justified. Others accept competition as inevitable, even though they do not like it or endorse it. They seem persuaded that we cannot escape its presumed reality. Natural selection, many reason, is … well, “natural.” Natural, hence inevitable: what recourse could humans possibly have against the laws of nature? Thus even people from divergent backgrounds seem to agree that this view of society unavoidably follows from evolution. Creationists, not surprisingly, parade it as reason to reject Darwinism outright. By contrast, as resolute an evolutionist as Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s bulldog,” invoked similar implications even while he urged his audience to transcend them morally. Yet the core assumptions of so-called Social Darwinism are unwarranted. Why does it continue to haunt us? The time has come to dislodge this entrenched belief, this sacred bovine: that nature somehow dictates a fundamentally individualistic and competitive society. Unraveling the flawed argument behind Social Darwinism also yields a more general and much more important lesson about the nature of science. The historical argument seems to enlist science to portray certain cultural perspectives as “facts” of nature. Naturalizing cultural ideas in this way is all too easy. Cultural contexts seem to remain invisible to those within the culture itself, sometimes scientists too. The case of Social Darwinism—not Darwinism at all—illustrates vividly how appeals to science can go awry. We might thus learn how to notice, and to remedy or guard against, such errors in other cases. Ironically, the basic doctrine now labeled “Social Darwinism” did not originate with Darwin at all. Darwin was no Social Darwinist. Quite the contrary: Darwin opened the way for understanding how a moral society can evolve (essay 6).
Less
It is time to rescue Darwinism from the dismal shadow of Social Darwinism. According to this now widely discredited doctrine, human society is governed by “the survival of the fittest.” Competition reigns unchecked. Individualism erodes any effort to cooperate. Ethics and morality become irrelevant. Some contend that social competition is the very engine of human “progress,” and hence any effort to regulate it cannot be justified. Others accept competition as inevitable, even though they do not like it or endorse it. They seem persuaded that we cannot escape its presumed reality. Natural selection, many reason, is … well, “natural.” Natural, hence inevitable: what recourse could humans possibly have against the laws of nature? Thus even people from divergent backgrounds seem to agree that this view of society unavoidably follows from evolution. Creationists, not surprisingly, parade it as reason to reject Darwinism outright. By contrast, as resolute an evolutionist as Thomas Henry Huxley, “Darwin’s bulldog,” invoked similar implications even while he urged his audience to transcend them morally. Yet the core assumptions of so-called Social Darwinism are unwarranted. Why does it continue to haunt us? The time has come to dislodge this entrenched belief, this sacred bovine: that nature somehow dictates a fundamentally individualistic and competitive society. Unraveling the flawed argument behind Social Darwinism also yields a more general and much more important lesson about the nature of science. The historical argument seems to enlist science to portray certain cultural perspectives as “facts” of nature. Naturalizing cultural ideas in this way is all too easy. Cultural contexts seem to remain invisible to those within the culture itself, sometimes scientists too. The case of Social Darwinism—not Darwinism at all—illustrates vividly how appeals to science can go awry. We might thus learn how to notice, and to remedy or guard against, such errors in other cases. Ironically, the basic doctrine now labeled “Social Darwinism” did not originate with Darwin at all. Darwin was no Social Darwinist. Quite the contrary: Darwin opened the way for understanding how a moral society can evolve (essay 6).
Andrew E. Barshay
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520236455
- eISBN:
- 9780520941335
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520236455.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The theme of Japan as the only successful modernizer or “power” in Asia has been endlessly played out since the 1890s. Japanese elites undertook a forced march to industrialization and military ...
More
The theme of Japan as the only successful modernizer or “power” in Asia has been endlessly played out since the 1890s. Japanese elites undertook a forced march to industrialization and military strength based for some decades on the relentless taxation of peasant production. This effort was initially supported by a somewhat freewheeling Anglophilia, with the appropriation of American and French models in various domains as more or less significant subthemes. Social Darwinism, the theory of progress, and an ethic of individual and national advancement, formed the keynote of systematic Westernizations. Japan, in short, had modernized through, not despite, tradition; a new, neotraditional mode of modernization had emerged on the world historical stage. However, success brought frustration and anxiety.Less
The theme of Japan as the only successful modernizer or “power” in Asia has been endlessly played out since the 1890s. Japanese elites undertook a forced march to industrialization and military strength based for some decades on the relentless taxation of peasant production. This effort was initially supported by a somewhat freewheeling Anglophilia, with the appropriation of American and French models in various domains as more or less significant subthemes. Social Darwinism, the theory of progress, and an ethic of individual and national advancement, formed the keynote of systematic Westernizations. Japan, in short, had modernized through, not despite, tradition; a new, neotraditional mode of modernization had emerged on the world historical stage. However, success brought frustration and anxiety.
Erik J. Hammerstrom
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170345
- eISBN:
- 9780231539586
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170345.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Describes Buddhists’ ethical criticisms of science. In the early twentieth century, both science and progressive thought in China were closely associated with social evolutionism. Wrongly referred to ...
More
Describes Buddhists’ ethical criticisms of science. In the early twentieth century, both science and progressive thought in China were closely associated with social evolutionism. Wrongly referred to as “social Darwinism,” this ideology had roots in the thought of British sociologist Herbert Spencer. Buddhists identified this as the guiding ethic of modern science, and they rejected it. They pointed to the massive destruction of human life wrought by new technologies of war in Europe during World War 1, and they argued that peace and human life could only be preserved by using the ethical system of Buddhism to restrain and guide science. In their discussions they offered the Buddhist idea of pingdeng, or equality, as a cure for the violent struggle they saw around them.Less
Describes Buddhists’ ethical criticisms of science. In the early twentieth century, both science and progressive thought in China were closely associated with social evolutionism. Wrongly referred to as “social Darwinism,” this ideology had roots in the thought of British sociologist Herbert Spencer. Buddhists identified this as the guiding ethic of modern science, and they rejected it. They pointed to the massive destruction of human life wrought by new technologies of war in Europe during World War 1, and they argued that peace and human life could only be preserved by using the ethical system of Buddhism to restrain and guide science. In their discussions they offered the Buddhist idea of pingdeng, or equality, as a cure for the violent struggle they saw around them.
Frank M. Turner
Richard A. Lofthouse (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780300207293
- eISBN:
- 9780300212914
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300207293.003.0006
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Evolution became the single new idea that permeated deeply into virtually all areas of intellectual endeavor at the turn of the twentieth century. More than any other scientific or intellectual ...
More
Evolution became the single new idea that permeated deeply into virtually all areas of intellectual endeavor at the turn of the twentieth century. More than any other scientific or intellectual development, evolution led to conceiving the world and human nature in terms of a process which implied that nature itself, like humankind, had a history. This chapter discusses the immense amount of confusion generated by the idea of evolution; its acceptance by large number of non-scientists; the influence of the work of geologist Charles Lyell on Darwin; and the emergence of social Darwinism among critics and commentators on society. Social Darwinism may be said to refer to a competitive version of society in which the imperative to intense competition is based on the idea that society should copy or emulate nature. If nature is characterized, as Darwin said, by a struggle for survival, then society is similarly structured. The chapter also considers the fact that the chief critic of social Darwinism was Thomas Huxley, who had done more than any other single person to foster the acceptance of evolution by the English public.Less
Evolution became the single new idea that permeated deeply into virtually all areas of intellectual endeavor at the turn of the twentieth century. More than any other scientific or intellectual development, evolution led to conceiving the world and human nature in terms of a process which implied that nature itself, like humankind, had a history. This chapter discusses the immense amount of confusion generated by the idea of evolution; its acceptance by large number of non-scientists; the influence of the work of geologist Charles Lyell on Darwin; and the emergence of social Darwinism among critics and commentators on society. Social Darwinism may be said to refer to a competitive version of society in which the imperative to intense competition is based on the idea that society should copy or emulate nature. If nature is characterized, as Darwin said, by a struggle for survival, then society is similarly structured. The chapter also considers the fact that the chief critic of social Darwinism was Thomas Huxley, who had done more than any other single person to foster the acceptance of evolution by the English public.
Paul Gilbert
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748623877
- eISBN:
- 9780748671991
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748623877.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter investigates the idea of national character deriving from Herder. This, it contends, is the now discredited forerunner of the notion of cultural identity but plays a similar role in ...
More
This chapter investigates the idea of national character deriving from Herder. This, it contends, is the now discredited forerunner of the notion of cultural identity but plays a similar role in securing identification with fellow group members and justifying political claims, in the case of national identity to separate statehood for the nation. Both subjectivist accounts like Renan's and objectivist ones, as in Social Darwinism, are examined, together with the idea's relation to racism and the reasons for its subsequent decline after World War 2.Less
This chapter investigates the idea of national character deriving from Herder. This, it contends, is the now discredited forerunner of the notion of cultural identity but plays a similar role in securing identification with fellow group members and justifying political claims, in the case of national identity to separate statehood for the nation. Both subjectivist accounts like Renan's and objectivist ones, as in Social Darwinism, are examined, together with the idea's relation to racism and the reasons for its subsequent decline after World War 2.
Neville Meaney
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199563739
- eISBN:
- 9780191701894
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199563739.003.0015
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines the ways Australians evoked a British past as a corollary to their sense of themselves as an offshoot of the British race. It identifies three distinct phases in the evolution ...
More
This chapter examines the ways Australians evoked a British past as a corollary to their sense of themselves as an offshoot of the British race. It identifies three distinct phases in the evolution of Australia’s British history. These include the early colonial era typified by liberal republicanism, the Glorious Revolution, and the great reform movements of the 19th century. This chapter also discusses the changes in the conception of Australia’s Empire and the emergence of race patriotism and social Darwinism.Less
This chapter examines the ways Australians evoked a British past as a corollary to their sense of themselves as an offshoot of the British race. It identifies three distinct phases in the evolution of Australia’s British history. These include the early colonial era typified by liberal republicanism, the Glorious Revolution, and the great reform movements of the 19th century. This chapter also discusses the changes in the conception of Australia’s Empire and the emergence of race patriotism and social Darwinism.
