Social Darwinism
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Transcript Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism
Realism
Positivism
Questions About the Biological
Universe
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
Darwin called this process
natural selection
Darwin & Natural Selection &
the Church
Darwin stated this process was slow
◦ Suggests that Earth is millions of years old, not
thousands as religious figures believed
Charles Lyell was a contemporary geologist and
his work supported Darwin’s time scale
Work was met w/ religious opposition, why?
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
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
Proof
◦ Food supply increased
arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4, etc)
◦ Population increased geometrically
(1, 2, 4, 8, etc)
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
◦ Could explain all social, political & intellectual development
◦ Survival of fittest & struggle for existence was viewed as a
normal & good
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
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
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
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”
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
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
David Strauss’ Life of Jesus (1835) argued that story
of Jesus was fictitious
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
Many regarded these ideas as heresy; inspired by the
devil
Religious Challenges
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
Agnosticism emerged as a response to this
debate
◦ Belief that the existence of things outside empirical
phenomena, including God, cannot be known
Therefore, ppl should not waste time debating it
Realism
Romanticism was replaced by Realism in the 1830s
◦ Belief that life should be depicted as it was seen
Believed Romanticism too sentimental & exaggerated
Society needed to be portrayed the way it was – created
“social novels”
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
Positivism
Society became a subject for
scientific analysis
Previously society simply existed
◦ Ppl were poor or rich, educated or not,
intelligent or not etc.
Auguste Comte question this
acceptance
◦ Why were there rich and poor people?
◦ Could human society be improved through
reforms?
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
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
◦ 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
Concluded that humanity was constantly progressing
◦ Predicted a world of peace eventually, co-operation to replace competition
Impressionism
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
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
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