Evolutionary Ethics: Healthy Prospect or Last Infirmity?

1988 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 27-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
The United States ◽  
Evolutionary Ethics ◽  
Evolutionary Approach ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Herbert Spencer ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Descent Of Man

Evolutionary ethics, the idea that the evolutionary process contains the basis for a full and adequate understanding of human moral nature, is an old and disreputable notion. It was popularized in the 19th century by the English general man of science, Herbert Spencer, who began advocating an evolutionary approach to ethical understanding, even before Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species in 1859 (Spencer 1857, 1892). Although it was never regarded with much enthusiasm by professional philosophers, thanks to Spencer’s advocacy the evolutionary approach to ethics soon gained wide popularity, both in Britain and towards the end of the century, even more in the United States of America (Ruse 1986; Russett 1976). It became transformed into a whole sociopolitical doctrine, known somewhat inaccurately as ‘Social Darwinism.’ (Scholars have long debated as to whether Darwin himself was truly a Social Darwinian, and the answer seems to depend on which of his works you read. If you look at the Origin of Species, he certainly is not. On the other hand, if you look at the Descent of Man, there are good reasons for thinking that he was not unsympathetic to the idea.

scholarly journals Charles Darwin i dansk litteratur med særlig henblik på Johannes V. Jensens forfatterskab

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-200
Author(s):  
Sven Hakon Rossel
Keyword(s):  
Role Model ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Literary Text ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Philosophical Debate ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Positive Role Model ◽  
Nobel Prizewinner ◽  
Descent Of Man

Abstract Charles Darwin’s theories were already introduced in Scandinavia in the early 1860s, whereas his two major works, On the Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871), were translated by Danish writer J.P. Jacobsen in the 1870s. Jacobsen acts as an important intermediary both as a scientist and, probably, the first Danish writer whose work is influenced by Darwin’s thoughts. But also in the writings of other authors of the time, e.g. Herman Bang, at least the name “Darwin” infrequently occurs as is also the case with the symbolist writers of the 1890s, e.g. Viggo Stuckenberg and Sophus Claussen. However, not until after 1900 does Darwin serve as an artistic inspiration and a positive role model. This happens in an overpowering manner in the fictional and essayist works of the Danish Nobel Prizewinner Johannes V. Jensen. Jensen’s Darwinism was not countered until the so-called “livsanskuelsesdebat” - a philosophical debate - during the 1920s with the eloquent poet and dramatist Helge Rode as his acute opponent. Hereafter, Darwin’s role in Danish literature decreases significantly unless one wishes to see Peter Høeg’s novel from 1996, Kvinden og aben (The Man and the Ape) as the last example of a Darwin-influence on a literary text.

scholarly journals The concept of music evolution in Herbert Spencer’s and Charles Darwin’s theories

2012 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 253-273
Author(s):  
Ana Petrov
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Biological Species ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Herbert Spencer ◽  
Theories Of Evolution ◽  
Evolutional Process ◽  
And Function ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Natural Means

This paper deals with the discourses on music in Herbert Spencer?s and Charles Darwin?s theories of evolution. Even though both Spencer and Darwin construed music as a carrier of the expression of affects and a part of a ubiquitous evolutional process towards ever increasing progress of culture, these authors? discourses differed from each other in the understanding of the origin and function of music. Darwin considered music as being one of the (natural) means of making a selection during the process of evolution of the humans as a biological species. Notwithstanding certain similarities to Darwin, Spencer (as well as his followers) discussed music as a part of a socio-cultural evolution, which entailed an approach to music as a historical and cultural phenomenon. I will here elaborate the position of the discourses on music in Spencer?s and Darwin?s general theories of evolution, point out to the relevant aspects of the concept of music evolution and mention the influence that these theories had on the 19th-century official discourses on music.

The Loss of Rational Design

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 235-257
Author(s):  
Friedel Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Rational Design ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
British Association ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Descent Of Man

Charles Darwin published hisOrigin of Specieson November 24, 1859. Whatever hurdle the theory of natural selection faced in its struggle for acceptance, its impact on human self-images was almost immediate. Well before Darwin had the chance of applying the principle of natural selection to human origins—in hisDescent of Man(1871)—his contemporaries quickly and rashly drew the inference to man's descent from the ape. Satirical magazines likePunchdelighted in depicting Darwin with his imposing head on an apish body. At the Oxford meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (June 1860), Bishop Wilberforce asked T. H. Huxley triumphantly whether he traced his ancestry to the ape on his grandfather's or grandmother's side. A wave of evolutionary texts swept over Europe (L. Biichner, E. Haeckel, T. H. Huxley, J. B. Lamarck, C. Lyell, F. Rolle, E. Tyler and K. Vogt). Written in English, French and German, they all had a common focus: the place of humans in a Darwinian world, including religion and morality.

Creation and extinction: The geological background to the initial American reception of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Herbert
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
The United States ◽  
Abraham Lincoln ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Louis Agassiz ◽  
Asa Gray

On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was published in 1859 in England and in 1860 in the United States. Its relatively positive initial reception in the United States was facilitated by a number of factors including the prominence of geology among the sciences, the high standing of Darwin with James Dwight Dana (1813–1895), and common knowledge about geology among many non-geologists. As indicated by the example of Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), knowledge of a long duration for the Earth and of the fact of species extinction was taken for granted. At the level of elite science, knowledge of geological concepts was also widespread, as indicated by the example of Joseph Henry (1797–1878), first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Instructed in geology not only by Amos Eaton (1776–1842) but also by the lectures of Charles Lyell (1797–1875), Henry proved a well-placed advocate for giving Darwin's book a fair hearing. In doing so Henry allied himself with the Harvard botanist Asa Gray (1810–1888). The fact that Darwin's Origin was published at a time of high political tension in the United States added to the drama: the opponent of evolution Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) engaged Gray, the proponent of evolution, on numerous grounds both intellectual and institutional. Further, vocabulary during the period moved back and forth across scientific and political contexts, as suggested by varied applications of the word “extinction.”

The Loss of Rational Design

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 20-21
Author(s):  
Friedel Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Rational Design ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
British Association ◽  
Human Origins ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Descent Of Man

Charles Darwin published his Origin of Species on November 24, 1859. Whatever hurdle the theory of natural selection faced in its struggle for acceptance, its impact on human self-images was almost immediate. Well before Darwin had the chance of applying the principle of natural selection to human origins—in his Descent of Man (1871)—his contemporaries quickly and rashly drew the infer–ence to man’s descent from the ape. Satirical magazines like Punch delighted in depicting Darwin with his imposing head on an apish body. At the Oxford meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (June 1860), Bishop Wilberforce asked T.

Evolution by Blind Chance

1986 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-360
Author(s):  
Barrie Britton
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
World Views ◽  
Literal Interpretation ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Universe

Ever since Charles Darwin first published his revolutionary book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, there has been considerable disagreement among Christians concerning both the truth of evolutionary theory and its possible reconciliation with the Bible. Some Christians have taken the so-called ‘fundamentalist creationist’ position believing in a literal interpretation of the first few chapters of Genesis. Others have adopted so-called ‘theistic evolutionist’ views accepting to various different degrees Darwinian ideas about origins. One point however on which most Christians (and indeed non-Christians) are agreed, is that an evolutionary process based on blind chance must necessarily conflict with all possible theistic world views and stands irreconcilable with the biblical text. It is this assertion which in this essay I hope to refute, as based on misunderstanding of the meaning of blind chance, of the mechanism of evolution and of the involvement of God in the universe.

Reevaluating Female “Inferiority”: Sarah Grand Versus Charles Darwin

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Fin De Siecle ◽  
Biological Determinism ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Sarah Grand ◽  
Fin De Siècle ◽  
Descent Of Man

The figure of darwin hovered like a specter over the fin de siècle, not only the Darwin of the explosive 1859 On the Origin of Species that redirected evolutionary thinking but also the author of the 1871 Descent of Man — a less heralded work, though generating equally significant repercussions with its pronouncements on the intellectual capacities of the sexes. By linking a perceived mental inferiority of women to the mechanism of evolution, Darwin seemingly brought scientific proof to support a cultural truism. In so doing, he reinforced Victorian strictures that maintained women in a subservient state, which now could be justified on the basis of biological determinism. Yet Sarah Grand's popular 1897 novel, The Beth Book, contests the Darwinian verities, questioning the scientists' specious conclusions about sex-linked traits and identifying culture as an equally significant force determining the mental dispositions of the sexes.

The Origins of Psychosis and “The Descent of Man”

1991 ◽  
Vol 159 (S14) ◽  
pp. 76-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Crow
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Descent Of Man

In 1871, Charles Darwin published The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. The first part of this volume made explicit the conclusion that had been implicit in the Origin of Species published 12 years earlier, that man indeed was descended from the great apes.

scholarly journals Descent of Darwin: race, sex, and human nature

BJHS Themes ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Erika Lorraine Milam ◽  
Suman Seth
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Women's Education ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Aesthetic Judgement ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Biological Importance ◽  
Women's Equality ◽  
History Of ◽  
Descent Of Man

Abstract In 1871, Charles Darwin published Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, a text that extended, elaborated and completed his On the Origin of Species (1859). When he had published Origin, Darwin sought, albeit unsuccessfully, to skirt controversy; in Descent he waded into the fray on near-innumerable issues. Readers could find explicit the claim that humans had descended from apes, in addition to explorations of the similarities and apparent gulfs between ‘man’ and other animals. They also found Darwin's opinions on issues ranging from the origin and hierarchy of races to the question of women's education, from the source of altruistic bravery to the biological importance of aesthetic judgement, from his views on what his cousin would term ‘eugenics’ to the history of monogamy. In the last 150 years these ideas have been variously contested, rejected and recovered, so that the shadow of Descent extended into debates over the development of languages, the evolution of human sexualities, the ongoing possibilities of eugenics and the question of women's equality. In this volume, appearing during the sesquicentennial of the text's first appearance, one finds papers dedicated to all of these themes and more, laying out the roots and fruits of Darwin's Descent.

Darwin’s Church

2010 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 333-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul White
Keyword(s):  
Charles Darwin ◽  
Social Darwinism ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Poor Laws ◽  
Herbert Spencer ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Lamarckian Evolution ◽  
The Social ◽  
Scarcity Of Resources ◽  
Natural Selection Theory

From the war of nature, from famine and death … endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.(Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species)Much has been made of the roots of Darwinian theory in the work of Thomas Malthus, who argued for the inevitability of strife, suffering and death following on the scarcity of resources and the tendency of populations to multiply without limit. It has been noted that a Malthusian pessimism about human nature re-emerged in the 1830s, darkening the political discussions surrounding the welfare of the poor, and informing the legislation of the Poor Laws in those crucial years in which Darwin formulated his natural selection theory. Historians have also focussed on the harshness of the social Darwinism that was taken up by theorists later in the century, in contrast to the more optimistic, Lamarckian evolution of Herbert Spencer, Peter Kropotkin and others. Yet in the closing passage of Origin of Species, Darwin extended his famous metaphor of the entangled bank, offering a form of redemption through struggle toward higher forms of life.

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