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Social Darwinism
by Barry Wright
Essay: Social Darwinism
Pages: 10
Rating: 3 stars
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Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection, a scientific theory that supported the belief of evolution, was manipulated
and applied to different areas of life, and thus it became the shaping force in European thought in the last half of
the nineteenth century. Darwin, through observation of organisms, determined that a system of natural selection
controlled the evolution of species. He found that the organisms that were most fit and assimilated to the
environment would survive. They would also reproduce so that over time they would eventually dominate in
numbers over the organisms with weaker characteristics. This new theory was radical and interesting to the
scientific world but its effects reach far beyond this small institution of intellectuals. People applied Darwinism and
its belief in survival of the fittest to all areas of life. They used it as a “natural law” which supported their actions
and beliefs. Advocates manipulated the scientific doctrine to fulfill their personal needs and to justify religious
beliefs, capitalism, and military conquests.
Darwinism greatly impacted the scientific world purely through its specific doctrine. The enlightenment had paved
the way for rational thinking and observation. People were willing to accept scientific data as fact and they were
able to objectively consider theories that went against the church. Because of the story of creation, Darwinism
would have been immediately rejected only a few centuries earlier. People used Darwinism as a weapon to strike
at the validity of the powerful religious institutions of the period. It was because of the many drastic changes in
the beliefs of the people and the advancement of the logical world that Darwinism was well accepted as a
scientific truth.
Beyond the exact definition of Darwinism, many people found personal applications to the scientific doctrine. Not
only was survival of the fittest an established truth in nature, it was also more than evident in human society. Many
people, after reading the benefits associated with reproduction of the strong, began to place human activity under
the scrutiny of science. Those who found that the principles of Darwinism advocated their personal goals in
society took great lengths to spread the word of Social Darwinism. This was a doctrine that called for free
competition among humans and a setting in which the domin...
society took great lengths to spread the word of Social Darwinism. This was a doctrine that called for free
competition among humans and a setting in which the domin...
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