Download Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism
Realism
Positivism
Questions About the Biological
Universe
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Charles Darwin spent
25+yrs gathering specimens
from the natural world, and
observing natural behaviour
1859 publishes On the
Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection
◦ Provided evidence that species
were not fixed for all time
◦ Species adapted/evolved into new
forms as conditions changed
◦ New species emerged, others
died out
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Darwin called this process
natural selection
Darwin & Natural Selection &
the Church
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Darwin stated this process was slow
◦ Suggests that Earth is millions of years old, not
thousands as religious figures believed
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Charles Lyell was a contemporary geologist and
his work supported Darwin’s time scale
 Work was met w/ religious opposition, why?
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Suggested that animals (& by implication humans)
wee not special creations of God
◦ Each species had common ancestors, changed over
time
◦ Places humans more closely to apes than angels
Influence on Darwin
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Darwin was influenced by
Thomas Malthus, Essay on
Population (1798) – stated
◦ Nature was not benign & progress
was not inevitable
◦ B/c population increases would
overextend limited resource
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Proof
◦ Food supply increased
arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, etc)
◦ Population increased geometrically
(1, 2, 4, 8, etc)
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Consequence of this “law” was
that as the population grew,
suffering increases (despite
advancements)
Essentially, idea is about
scarcity & struggle
Social Darwinism & Herbert
Spencer
Application of Darwin’s ideas is known as Social
Darwinism
 Spencer believed everything evolved from the simple
& uniform to the complex & specialized
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◦ Could explain all social, political & intellectual development
◦ Survival of fittest & struggle for existence was viewed as a
normal & good
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No gov’t should interfere w/ social environment
◦ Interferes w/ individual liberty
◦ Evil would disappear when “every man may claim the
fullest liberty to exercise his faculties” (assume all ppl are
equal)
◦ Competition was necessary b/c “fit would emerge on top
in economic and social struggles
Social Darwinism & LaissezFaire
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Laissez-faire ideas became the norm
◦ Doctrine that governments should not interfere w/ the economy & that growth
will occur as a result of marketplace decisions
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Spencer believed that the liberal error was in their attempt to make
society equal & humane
◦ Fittest would survive & prosper while weakest would die out
◦ Society would be stronger as a result
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Social Darwinism was also used to support racism
Stated that certain groups were “naturally superior”
◦ Scientific, technological advancements were often a basis
◦ Justified imperial control of “inferior peoples”
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Bismarck’s Realpolitik was admired b/c it was based on power
◦ Supporters thought progress was measured by the strength of its army or
industry
◦ Nothing immoral about using war to reach goals
Religious Challenges
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Philology (the study of language in written historical
sources) concluded that the Bible had been written by
multiple sources @ different times
◦ Challenged belief that Bible was revealed truth
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David Strauss’ Life of Jesus (1835) argued that story
of Jesus was fictitious
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Archeologists/anthropologists questioned uniqueness
of Judaism & Christianity claiming religions were
created by ppl to comprehend the universe

Darwin’s ideas were used in conjunction w/ these
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Many regarded these ideas as heresy; inspired by the
devil
Religious Challenges
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Warfare b/w science & theology was not universal
Some religious thinkers accepted Lyell & Darwin
◦ Felt that evolution could be apart of God’s plan
◦ Beauty in idea of all things being related
◦ Humans could be active participants in the plans
completion
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Agnosticism emerged as a response to this
debate
◦ Belief that the existence of things outside empirical
phenomena, including God, cannot be known
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Therefore, ppl should not waste time debating it
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Realism
Romanticism was replaced by Realism in the 1830s
◦ Belief that life should be depicted as it was seen
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Believed Romanticism too sentimental & exaggerated
Society needed to be portrayed the way it was – created
“social novels”
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Gustave Flaubert wrote Madame Bovary (1856)
◦ Depicts the dreary & frustrated lives of the French middle class
◦ Heroine, Emma Bovary lives a dull life filled w/ romantic fantasies
◦ Was extremely controversial for the time
Middle class became more literate (have $ & time)
Novels were serialized in magazines & “penny pamphlets”
were created
 Novelists began shaping public opinion & arousing interest
for reform
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Positivism
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Society became a subject for
scientific analysis
Previously society simply existed
◦ Ppl were poor or rich, educated or not,
intelligent or not etc.
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Auguste Comte question this
acceptance
◦ Why were there rich and poor people?
◦ Could human society be improved through
reforms?
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Created “The Positive Philosophy”
– positive meant “scientific” to
Comte
Goal of positivism was to achieve a
scientific synthesis of all knowledge
◦ Could restructure society on the basis
of “scientific principles”
Positivism & Sociology
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Comte felt humanity had progressed through 3 stages of knowledge
◦ 1. Theological stage: explained world through supernatural
◦ 2. Metaphysical stage: explained world in abstract ideas
◦ 3. Positive stage: explained world based on scientific laws
Comte believed there were laws of society which could be discovered
by studying its history
 Coined the term & field of study as Sociology
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◦ The study of both “social statics” & “social dynamics”
◦ Statics were customs, institutions, legal-codes etc
◦ Dynamics were the study of social change to create/develop scientific laws
on societies development
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Concluded that humanity was constantly progressing
◦ Predicted a world of peace eventually, co-operation to replace competition
Impressionism
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Impressionism was an
artistic reaction to the realist
movement
Claude Monet’s, Impression:
Sunrise (1872) attempts to
capture the atmosphere of a
sunrise
◦ Different b/c realists were
attempting to depict things as if
they were photographed
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Vincent Van Gogh, Starry
Night (1889) is perhaps the
most famous work
◦ Depicts universe as a galaxy of
whirling light w/ a finite village
staged behind an infinitely
creeping cypress tree
Psychology & Sigmund Freud
Academics wanted to understand individual human
actions – irrational & self-destructive behaviour
 Sigmund Freud believed that dreams were the key
to understanding the human mind
 Dreams revealed the unconscious mind
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Main cause of our behaviour & most important to understand
Dreams allow subconscious mind to express itself
Psychologists could interpret & explain meanings
Called the process psychoanalysis
Believed ppl had unfulfilled desires & unconscious
motivates behaviour – most related to sexual matters
 Although discredited by many today, Freud is
regarded as the pioneer of psychology
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