Transcript New Science / New Women -

Descent of Man
Rise of Woman
1830-1890
The Second Industrial Revolution
 1st: 1780-1850
– textiles, corn, iron, RRs
 2nd – 1850-1900
1. STEEL PRODUCTION: steel rails, larger
structures, heavy machinery
2. OIL: kerosene for lighting; internal
combustion engine for factory machines
3. ELECTRICITY: increasing powered cities
4. CHEMICALS: Germany leads in photo
processing & areas such as dyes, soaps,
pharmaceuticals; also: fertilizers, explosives
Impact of 2nd Indus Rev

Increased demand for experts w/
specialized knowledge
◦ Science & Technology closely linked
◦ Both specialized professionals AND managers
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By 1890s – GERMANY most powerful
industrial economy in Europe
◦ Brits – heavy investment in 1st Rev >>> more
difficult to shit to new techniques of 2nd
◦ Germany’s later entry an advantage
Impact of Industrialization & New
Science
Industrialization: Material product of an
age of advancing science
 BUT Science, w/ emphasis on empirical
evidence, reason & experimentation
REVOLUTIONIZED not just how people
lived, but how they THOUGHT about
their world.
 >>>Challenged fundamental beliefs
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Overview – key trends:

Most dramatic: Darwin’s theories of
evolution and natural selection.
◦ Social Darwinists >>> apply D’s theories to
human society to justify all sorts of things:
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Class System
Racism
Sexism
Imperialism
Overview – key trends:
Beginnings of modern medical tech
(especially surgery) >>> extend life
expectancies into the 50s.
 WOMEN: begin to demand benefits of
Enlightenment & industrialization:
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◦ Higher Education
◦ Professional Opportunities
◦ The Vote
Auguste Comte/Positivism
1830-42: System of Positive Philosophy
 Positivism: Belief that sci. approach to all
human probs -- gathering hard facts and
quantifying probs >>>

◦ SOUND POSITIVE LAWS for society.

Sociology: term coined by Comte
But … Science also upset old
orthodoxies
Recall: MARX & ENGELS – saw selves as
scientists
 Progress >>> Change
 More scientific inquiry >>> More Qs

Q: Where to begin?
A: Most basic facts abt Natural World –
HOW OLD IS THE EARTH? How did
humans first appear on it?

Late 1700s:
◦ New geological findings: strange fossils – no
apparent relation to current animals & plants
Preliminary Answers
Charles Lyell – The Principles of Geology
1830-1870 – modern science of geology
James Hutton – contrary to 6000-yr time
frame – Earth immeasurably old.
Preliminary Answers
Jean-Baptiste Lamark –
 1809-1822 – early theory
of evolution
 Argues: Life begins w/
simple organisms which
evolved over eons as
result of interaction w/
the environment.
 How’d it happen? -- He
couldn’t answer
Lamarck’s Evolution
Took some heat for it
Darwin puts it together:
Background….
 1831 – botanist
on HMS Beagle to
S. America
Galapagos Islands
 Notes slight
differences in
living specimens
between habitats
& from fossils
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Darwin puts it together:
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Theory for variations:
◦ EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION
 Idea of evolution not new -- 50 yrs+
 What WAS new: D’s suggestion, following Malthus
Essay on Population, that all nature engaged in great
competition for survival
 Winners? -- those species or examples of species
that were best fitted for their environment,
acquisition of food, & other factors
 “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST”
1859 –
PUBLISHES his findings in
The Origin of Species by the
Means of Natural Selection
Reaction?
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SCIENTIFIC WORLD
◦ Rapid acceptance
◦ Explained SO much

GENERAL POPULATION
◦ Caused controversy
◦ Seemed to deny both veracity of biblical
account of creation AND agency for God in
the natural world.
Reaction?
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SOCIAL DARWINISTS –
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improper application to Humanity : History was
struggle of the strong against the weak for command of
Earth’s resources. --- SERIOUS implications to this!
Thus…
1. The civilized, the powerful, and the wealthy were so
because BEST FITTED to win struggle of human life.
2. “Uncivilized,” powerless and poor: Simply nature’s
losers.
3. Justified in racist, sexist, classicist, imperialist thinking,
behavior.
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The Descent of Man - 1879
MUCH more controversial than Origin of
Species
 If all nature evolved from a primitive state,
surely so did man … from apes
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Post-Darwin
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Gregor Mendel –
Augustinian Czech monk
◦ Q: HOW did useful traits get
passed on to next generation?
◦ A: After studying 29,000 pea
plants for heredity and
evolution: GENETIC
INHERITANCE
◦ Published 1866; little impact
until after 1900