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Redalyc.Emergence of Darwinian Theories on Evolution of Homo Sapiens (Catarrhini: Hominidae) and Their Relevance for Social Scie

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Redalyc.Emergence of Darwinian Theories on Evolution of Homo Sapiens (Catarrhini: Hominidae) and Their Relevance for Social Scie Revista Chilena de Historia Natural ISSN: 0716-078X [email protected] Sociedad de Biología de Chile Chile MANRÍQUEZ, GERMÁN Emergence of Darwinian theories on evolution of Homo sapiens (Catarrhini: Hominidae) and their relevance for social sciences Revista Chilena de Historia Natural, vol. 83, núm. 4, 2010, pp. 501-510 Sociedad de Biología de Chile Santiago, Chile Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=369944296005 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative DARWINIAN THEORIES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION & SOCIAL SCIENCES 501 REVISTA CHILENA DE HISTORIA NATURAL Revista Chilena de Historia Natural 83: 501-510, 2010 © Sociedad de Biología de Chile SPECIAL FEATURE: DARWINIAN CORE AND POST-DARWINIAN EXTENSIONS Emergence of Darwinian theories on evolution of Homo sapiens (Catarrhini: Hominidae) and their relevance for social sciences Origen de las teorías darwinianas de la evolución de Homo sapiens (Catarrhini: Hominidae) y su importancia para las ciencias sociales GERMÁN MANRÍQUEZ1, 2, 3 1 Programa de Genética Humana, ICBM, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Av. Independencia 1027, Santiago, Chile 2 Departamento de Antropología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT Despite the great impact that the Darwinian theories on organic evolution have had in the development and consolidation of biology as an autonomous scientific discipline, their relevance in social sciences, and particularly in archaeology and anthropology still remain ambiguous. This ambiguity is reflected in the classical interpretation of Darwin’s work pervading Social Sciences during more than one century, according to which the same ideas that contributed to the understanding of natural processes from a scientific perspective would be at the basis of a misleading interpretation of the evolution of human societies due to the application of the principle of natural selection to the social processes. Here we show how the works of T.H. Huxley and A.R. Wallace positively stimulated Darwin to answer to the question about the origin of human populations considering culture from an evolutionary perspective as a factor opposed to the negative action of natural selection on human societies, thus refuting the classical interpretation of Darwin’s work made by Social Sciences. The role played by the biocultural approach in understanding human evolution as well as in promoting the integrative thinking in Social Sciences is also discussed. Key words: Darwin, human evolution, social sciences. RESUMEN A pesar del enorme impacto que las teorías de Darwin sobre la evolución orgánica han tenido en el desarrollo y la consolidación de la biología como disciplina científica autónoma, su pertinencia en ciencias sociales, y particularmente en arqueología y antropología sigue siendo ambigua. Esta ambigüedad se refleja en la interpretación clásica de la obra de Darwin que ha permanecido en las ciencias sociales durante más de un siglo, según la cual las mismas ideas que contribuyeron a la comprensión de los procesos naturales desde una perspectiva científica estarían en la base de una interpretación errónea de la evolución de las sociedades humanas debido a la aplicación del principio de la selección natural a los procesos sociales. Se muestra cómo la obra de T.H. Huxley y A.R. Wallace estimularon positivamente a Darwin para responder a la pregunta sobre el origen de las poblaciones humanas. Esta respuesta consideró a la cultura desde una perspectiva evolutiva y como un factor opuesto a la acción negativa de la selección natural en las sociedades humanas, rechazándose así la interpretación clásica de la obra de Darwin formulada desde las ciencias sociales. Se discute el rol que juega el enfoque biocultural en la comprensión de la evolución humana así como en promover el pensamiento integrativo en las ciencias sociales. Palabras clave: ciencias sociales, Darwin, evolución humana. The main aim of this work is to explore the evolutionary theories. Secondly, we will show background allowing the emergence of the importance that Darwin’s (1809-1882) Darwinian theories on evolution of Homo contemporary naturalists had on the sapiens, as well as to recognize their relevance development of his own conceptions about as tools of integrative thinking in social human evolution by revising the works of sciences. For this purpose we will first focus Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895) and Alfred the influence that founders of Social Sciences Russel Wallace (1823-1913). Later we will represented by Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), discuss how the approach of biocultural Emile Durkheim (1858-1917), and Karl Marx evolution may be considered as a conceptual (1818-1883) had on the main views that social framework for the social sciences oriented scientists have had since then on Darwin’s towards an understanding of the role played by 502 MANRÍQUEZ biological and cultural factors in the study of Spencer for this contribution has been human evolution. Finally the place of thoroughly discussed by Haines (1991), who integrative thinking in current physical quotes a letter of July 5, 1866, addressed by anthropology and archaeology will be Darwin to AR Wallace commenting this examined. subject. This, in turn, would have pave the way during the XXth Century for the exclusion of Darwinism from the academic circles of HERBERT SPENCER AND EMILE DURKHEIM: Social Sciences in Europe because of its FIRST STEPS TOWARDS THE eventual closeness to Herbert Spencer’s ideas MISUNDERSTANDING OF DARWIN IN SOCIAL about the causes of social evolution. SCIENCES Interestingly the reception of Darwin’s theories by social thinkers outside Europe Intra- and interspecific competence for was related with political gradualism to resources, as well as variation and heredity of promote and justify the Imperial status quo as phenotypical attributes conferring to their in Japan (Elshakry 2009), with cooperation carriers a differential of mating, reproduction and colectivism in the zarist Russia (Todes and/or survival were main arguments used by 2009), or even with political revolution and Charles Darwin to establish his three theories change of the social conditions as happened of organic evolution: natural selection (Darwin in China under the threath of Western 1859), sexual selection and descent with imperialism (Pusey 2009), but definitively not modification (Darwin 1871). It is broadly with the more familiar to europeans “struggle accepted that this theoretical framework for existence” principle. changed the theistic and anthropocentric view After Spencer evolutionary change had a characteristic of pre-Darwinian times, and that “cosmic” character consisting in the after Darwinian revolution this approach permanent redistribution of matter and energy constitutes the basis of the studies on the because of the principle of the conservation of changes observed in Homo sapiens energy. As a result, the progressive structural populations. However, despite the great impact similarity and functional complexity of all the that Darwinian theories on organic evolution matter of the universe was obtained (Hawkins have had in the development and consolidation 1997). Moreover, according to this view due to of Biology as an autonomous scientific structural similarities derived from the discipline (Mayr 2004), their influence in permanent tendency to change, the social sciences, and particularly in evolutionary forces acting both upon Archaeology and Anthropology still remains individuals and upon societies as a whole ambiguous. would be the same. The main tenets derived Thus, Darwin’s legacy in social sciences from this view were that societies consisted of would have a twofold nature: one, associated aggregates of individuals, and that the laws to the author of the theory of natural explaining evolution of individual organisms selection explaining the diversity of living were the same laws explaining the behavior of beings by natural causes, corresponding to societies. From this perspective, considering the “good” Darwin, and the other one warfare as the social equivalent of the characterized by the principle of natural individual tendency to struggle for existence selection applied to human society following was just a natural consequence of the rules of the Malthusian principle of imbalance cosmic evolution towards progress and between the growth rates of human complexity of the matter in universe: “Warfare populations, and the resources available for among men, like warfare among animals, has their subsistence. According to this particular had a large share in raising their organizations view, the “bad” Darwin was the one who to a higher state” (Spencer 1873, The study of would have adopted Spencer’s idea about sociology, quoted by Hawkins 1997, p. 85). At natural selection as a process equivalent to which extent Spencer legitimated his political the “struggle for existence” having as its most views supporting the role of individual in important result “the survival of the fittest”. society against the regulation of civil affaires The supposed Darwin’s debt to Herbert by the State becomes clear from his DARWINIAN THEORIES OF HUMAN EVOLUTION & SOCIAL SCIENCES 503 “Education: Intellectual, Moral and Physical” KARL MARX AND THE
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