DOCSLIB.ORG

Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

This View of Life Special Edition Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism This View of life is an online magazine that reports on evolution the way that Darwin imagined it—as a theory that applies to all aspects of humanity in addition to the rest of life. TVOL makes modern evolutionary science accessible to the public on topics that are vital to our personal and social wellbeing, including health, education, environment, economics, politics, culture, and the arts. It shows what Darwin meant when he wrote “There is grandeur in this view of life…” www.evolution-institute.org/this-view-of-life Contents Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism by David Sloan Wilson and Eric M. Johnson ............3 Social Darwinism: Myth and Reality by Paul Crook .....................................................................5 The Case for Rescuing Tainted Words by David Sloan Wilson...................................................... 9 Social Darwinism: A Case of Designed Ventriloquism by Adriana Novoa .................................... 12 When the Strong Outbreed the Weak: An Interview with William Muir by David Sloan Wilson .... 21 Was Hitler a Darwinian? No! No! No! by Robert J Richards with David Sloan Wilson .....................29 Was Dewey a Darwinian? Yes! Yes! Yes! An interview with Trevor Pearce by David Sloan Wilson ......67 Why Did Sociology Declare Independence from Biology (And Can They Be Reunited)? An Interview with Russell Schutt by David Sloan Wilson ......................................................74 The New Social Darwinism by David Sloan Wilson and Eric Michael Johnson .............................. 85 The Authors clockwise from top left: Adriana Novoa David Sloan Wilson Eric Michael Johnson Robert J Richards William Muir Trevor Pearce Russel Schutt Paul Crook 2 Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism by David Sloan Wilson and Eric M. Johnson CHARLES DARWIN’S theory has revolutionized biology, impacting every aspect of the modern life sciences. However, some applications of his theory to social policy have left us with a legacy that is both shameful and chilling. Today, the term “Social Darwinism” is associated primarily with the moral justification of inequality, resulting in policies such as withholding welfare for the poor, colonialism, eugenics, and genocide. This View of Life would like to confront this legacy directly. A thorough examination is needed for the old Social Darwinism to be laid to rest and replaced with a new set of associations so that modern evolutionary science can be used in a positive sense to understand and improve the human condition. This is similar to the truth and reconciliation commissions that enable nations such as South Africa to acknowledge and move beyond past injustices—hence the title of our theme. To that end, we will feature articles and interviews on both the historical and contemporary applications of Darwin’s theory to human life. The story that we plan to tell is complex, as befits the actual history of the subject. The tapestry that we weave will include the following threads: ■ In some cases, evolutionary theory has indeed been used to justify inequality, as typically associated with the term Social Darwinism. These cases need to be acknowledged and understood against the background of their times. ■ Evolutionary theory has also been used to promote cooperation and equality from the beginning, including Darwin himself. These cases also need to be acknowledged so that the impact of Darwin’s theory on human affairs is not seen as entirely negative. ■ In some cases, evolutionary theory is falsely accused of being used to justify inequality. There is little evidence that it played a role in Nazi war policy, for example. In these cases, truth and reconciliation means absolving evolutionary theory of these particular injustices. Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism 3 ■ The uses and misuses of evolutionary theory need to be weighted against the uses and misuses of other worldviews, such as religious, tribal and national identities, “blank slate” theories of human nature, and economic theories that justify laissez faire policies. Is evolutionary theory especially prone to misuse, or do we need to be vigilant about the justification of inequality in a more general sense? ■ The uses and misuses of any human worldview need to be weighted against the dynamics of cooperation and competition in all social species. The evolutionary distinction between proximate and ultimate causation is important in this regard. The social arrangements recognized as just or unjust in human terms are favored by ecological conditions in humans and nonhumans alike (ultimate causation). Species differ in the psychological mechanisms that cause them to behave as they do and symbolic belief systems (worldviews) operate more strongly in humans than most other species (proximate causation). To focus only on worldviews in humans is to ignore the ultimate causes of inequality in all species. ■ Major architects of the human social sciences had their own reasons to divorce their disciplines from “biology” that had little to do with misuses of evolutionary theory. These factors need to be understood and addressed for evolutionary theory to play the same role in the human-related sciences that it does in the life sciences. ■ The reason to thoroughly revisit the past is to maximize the positive use of evolutionary theory and guard against injustices in the present and future. Our theme will therefore end with ethical considerations for the modern-day application of evolutionary theory to understand and improve the human condition. Leading historians and evolutionary thinkers will help us tell this complex but fascinating story. The interviews and articles will be substantive enough to help shape professional discourse but accessible enough to attract the interest of the general public. It is our goal to make contemporary researchers aware of the pitfalls that history teaches at the same time that we offer a vision for how evolutionary biology can be utilized in a positive direction for our society. Darwin spoke of grandeur in this view of life and it is our mission to insure that his legacy lives up to this high standard. ♦ 4 Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism Social Darwinism: Myth and Reality by Paul Crook WHEN I first encountered Social Darwinism as a student, my first reaction, I’m afraid, was something like this: Oh, Social Darwinism, wasn’t that used to justify ruthless capitalism, militarism, imperialism and racism, using Darwin’s “survival of the fittest”? something that ended up in Nazi eugenics and the elimination of the Jews in the death camps? One would have hoped that these simplistic stereotypes would have been supplanted by more nuanced views in this day and age, at least in academic circles. Sadly, it seems not. I have heard such clichés hurled around almost as knee-jerk reactions at history conferences, whenever Darwinism is evoked in debate. Hopefully symposia such as this one will help to rectify the situation. One can always hope. But I am struck by the resilience, the sheer survival power, of such stereotypes, even when contradicted by overwhelming scholarly evidence. The question that needs to be asked, it follows, is what social and cultural conditions reinforce and serve to preserve such misconceptions. I know that there are young scholars attempting to plumb such depths at the moment. Darwin’s concept of struggle was fascinatingly complex, full of ambivalences. He recognised that it was multi-layered. I am using it, he said, not in a rigorous scientific sense (which he regretted) but “in a large metaphorical sense”. He distinguished many types of struggle, ranging from violent predation and savage killing of prey, to struggle for resources, to ecological dependence: “I shall use the word struggle…including in this term several ideas primarily distinct, but graduating into each other, as the dependency of one organic being on another…the agency whether organic or inorganic of what may be called chance… and lastly what may be more strictly a struggle, whether voluntarily as in animals or involuntary as in plants”. Thus in the Origin we are given many possibilities: conflict, dependence, chance; not only brutal victory or dominance, but also coadaptation and coexistence. He used vivid metaphors such as the web of nature, the tree of life, the tangled bank to represent a grand and integrated biological system that was life, holistic and interdependent as well as undeniably “red in tooth and claw”. His struggle metaphor, Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism 5 as that luminous thinker Gillian Beer put it, ”expresses his unwillingness to give dominance to a militant or combative order of nature”. If there was grandeur in this view of life, as he famously said, there were also myriad usages, validations, interrogations, illuminations, subversions that filtered from it into politics, religion, social thought and philosophy, to name a few discourses. Because of its ambivalences, Darwinism was infinitely adaptable for use in an amazing galaxy of ideas, agendas, and ideologies. They ranged from the epistemically pure and supposedly “hard science” to pseudo- science and outright propaganda. Darwinian science was undeniably culturally conditioned to start with—Darwin took "Darwin’s concept many metaphors and terms from industrial and imperial Britain—and the Social Darwinisms that followed were also of
Recommended publications
  • Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals

    Understanding the Intelligent Design Creationist Movement: Its True Nature and Goals

    UNDERSTANDING THE INTELLIGENT DESIGN CREATIONIST MOVEMENT: ITS TRUE NATURE AND GOALS A POSITION PAPER FROM THE CENTER FOR INQUIRY OFFICE OF PUBLIC POLICY AUTHOR: BARBARA FORREST, Ph.D. Reviewing Committee: Paul Kurtz, Ph.D.; Austin Dacey, Ph.D.; Stuart D. Jordan, Ph.D.; Ronald A. Lindsay, J. D., Ph.D.; John Shook, Ph.D.; Toni Van Pelt DATED: MAY 2007 ( AMENDED JULY 2007) Copyright © 2007 Center for Inquiry, Inc. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for noncommercial, educational purposes, provided that this notice appears on the reproduced materials, the full authoritative version is retained, and copies are not altered. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the Center for Inquiry, Inc. Table of Contents Section I. Introduction: What is at stake in the dispute over intelligent design?.................. 1 Section II. What is the intelligent design creationist movement? ........................................ 2 Section III. The historical and legal background of intelligent design creationism ................ 6 Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) ............................................................................ 6 McLean v. Arkansas (1982) .............................................................................. 6 Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) ............................................................................. 7 Section IV. The ID movement’s aims and strategy .............................................................. 9 The “Wedge Strategy” .....................................................................................
  • D'antonio, Michael Senior Thesis.Pdf

    D'antonio, Michael Senior Thesis.Pdf

    Before the Storm German Big Business and the Rise of the NSDAP by Michael D’Antonio A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the University of Delaware in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Honors Degree in History with Distinction Spring 2016 © 2016 Michael D’Antonio All Rights Reserved Before the Storm German Big Business and the Rise of the NSDAP by Michael D’Antonio Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Dr. James Brophy Professor in charge of thesis on behalf of the Advisory Committee Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Dr. David Shearer Committee member from the Department of History Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Dr. Barbara Settles Committee member from the Board of Senior Thesis Readers Approved: ____________________________________________________________ Michael Arnold, Ph.D. Director, University Honors Program ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This senior thesis would not have been possible without the assistance of Dr. James Brophy of the University of Delaware history department. His guidance in research, focused critique, and continued encouragement were instrumental in the project’s formation and completion. The University of Delaware Office of Undergraduate Research also deserves a special thanks, for its continued support of both this work and the work of countless other students. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................
  • 3 Amazônia: a Busca Do Eldorado

    3 Amazônia: a Busca Do Eldorado

    3 Amazônia: a busca do eldorado A origem da lenda do eldorado é indígena. Os viajantes europeus a interpretaram livremente e passaram a acreditar que havia um local na Amazônia onde o ouro era farto. Segundo a lenda, no coração da floresta amazônica reluzia uma cidade com prédios e telhados dourados, habitada pelos índios Manoa, que tomavam banho de ouro em pó às margens do lago Parima, ou lago Douro. Essas lendas só serviram para alimentar a sanha dos viajantes e ceifar muitas vidas, inclusive dos indígenas, caçados pela floresta para servirem de carregadores e remadores, na busca do eldorado. Hoje, sabemos que o eldorado era uma metáfora que representava toda a riqueza e diversidade da Amazônia, pois, no século XVI, a região também era conhecida como “terra da canela”. Acreditavam os viajantes, obviamente com objetivos mercantilistas, que especiarias e drogas apreciadas na Europa seriam facilmente recolhidas na floresta. De fato, a canela e as drogas eram abundantes, porém esparsas, floresta adentro. Certamente, os viajantes achavam que iriam encontrá-las agrupadas ou próximas às margens do grande rio. Daí a corrida pela conquista do território, o eldorado das especiarias. A curiosidade em relação a outros lugares e povos sempre impulsionou o homem em busca de sensações que são despertadas diante de uma natureza desconhecida. A literatura nos fornece exemplos de várias narrativas que alimentaram essa busca ao desconhecido e à aventura. Um dos mais famosos narradores foi Homero, cujo nome associamos à narrativa épica Odisséia que é um relato sobre os dez anos de aventuras experimentadas por Ulisses, herói legendário da Grécia antiga, no esforço de retomar a Ítaca após a guerra de Troia.
  • Part 5: Some Spiritual & Moral Truths in Gen

    Part 5: Some Spiritual & Moral Truths in Gen

    799 Part 5: Some Spiritual & Moral Truths in Gen. 1-11, continued. (Part 5, Chapter 5) b] The Old & New Testament Jew-Gentile distinction. The New Testament sometimes uses a threefold distinction of Jews, Gentiles, and Samaritans (Acts 1:8), or a “Greeks” and “Barbarians” distinction (Rom. 1:14). But it most commonly uses a Jew-Gentile distinction (e.g., Rom. 1:16). One element for understanding the racial universality of the Gospel is the Jew-Gentile distinction. E.g., the racial universality of the Gospel is taught by it in Gal. 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.” And God’s will for the preservation of the Jewish race in Rom. 9-11, manifests his will for racial preservation and associated opposition to generalized miscegenation. Thus e.g., as discussed in the following Part 5, Chapter 5, section c, Bob Jones Sr. (d. 1968), who was a past master of some key elements of Biblical racial morality, to wit, segregation and opposition to mixed marriages, so used this Jew-Gentile distinction for the purposes of e.g., teaching racial segregation. And likewise, the Jew- Gentile distinction is seen in both segregation and prohibition of racially mixed marriages in Acts 15 & 21 as discussed at Part 5, Chapter 5, section e, “Mixed Marriages,” infra , where it is noted that the holy Apostle, St. Paul, died a martyr’s death that men might know that God’s will is for the segregation of the races.
  • The Defense Against Antisemitism: Minor Victories, Major Defeats, 1890–1939

    The Defense Against Antisemitism: Minor Victories, Major Defeats, 1890–1939

    RichardS.Levy The Defense against Antisemitism: Minor Victories, Major Defeats, 1890–1939 Since Iwrotethis paper in the summerof2018, Ihavefound myself wondering if its title constitutes ajust judgment on nearly130 years of struggle by Jews and non-Jews to eliminate organized antisemitism.Surely, if Ihad subtitled it “Major Victories,Minor Defeats,” we would have to ask ourselvesabout the pur- pose of this great conference. Antisemitism, ever-changing, ever-threatening,is still very much with us. What Iwas wondering about instead was whether we can speakofevenminor victories,and, more generally, whether the history of the fight against organized antisemitism during manydecades has anything use- ful to teach us today. Ibelievethat this history and both the victoriesand defeats are still instructive. First some clarifications, beginning with the coiningofthe term: Ihavenot been able to find the use of the word antisemitism before 1860,when it was em- ployed in aculturalrather than apolitical sense. By late 1879,the German jour- nalist and political activist Wilhelm Marr seized upon the word antisemite as a wayofdistinguishing his political agenda from traditionalChristian Judeopho- bia and from the commonplaceprejudices of his day, thus hoping to give his views the aura of ascientifically derived truth, the product of his personal expe- rience and historicalresearch. Importanttonote about the earlyhistory of antisemitism is how rapidlywhat was essentiallyaneologism achievedthe broadest currency. There must have ex- isted aperceivedneed for anew wordtodescribethe resurgenceofconflicts be- tween Jews and the peoples among whom they lived, fondly thought to be nearly overcome in this ageofprogress but which in fact werebecomingevermore openlyexpressed.The need for anew wordaffected not justself-identified an- tisemites but Jews, non-Jewishcritics, and neutral bystanders throughout Europe and wherever Europeans settled in the world.
  • The Three Phases of Arendt's Theory of Totalitarianism*

    The Three Phases of Arendt's Theory of Totalitarianism*

    The Three Phases of Arendt's Theory of Totalitarianism* X~1ANNAH Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism, first published in 1951, is a bewilderingly wide-ranging work, a book about much more than just totalitarianism and its immediate origins.' In fact, it is not really about those immediate origins at all. The book's peculiar organization creates a certain ambiguity regarding its intended subject-matter and scope.^ The first part, "Anti- semitism," tells the story of tbe rise of modern, secular anti-Semi- tism (as distinct from what the author calls "religious Jew-hatred") up to the turn of the twentieth century, and ends with the Drey- fus affair in Erance—a "dress rehearsal," in Arendt's words, for things still worse to come (10). The second part, "Imperialism," surveys an assortment of pathologies in the world politics of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, leading to (but not direcdy involving) the Eirst World War. This part of the book examines the European powers' rapacious expansionist policies in Africa and Asia—in which overseas investment became the pre- text for raw, openly racist exploitation—and the concomitant emergence in Central and Eastern Europe of "tribalist" ethnic movements whose (failed) ambition was the replication of those *Earlier versions of this essay were presented at the University of Virginia and at the conference commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of The Origins of Toudilarianism hosted by the Hannah Arendt-Zentrum at Carl Ossietzky University in Oldenburg, Ger- many. I am grateful to Joshua Dienstag and Antonia Gnmenberg. respectively, for arrang- ing these (wo occasions, and also to the inembers of the audience at each—especially Lawrie Balfour, Wolfgang Heuer, George KJosko, Allan Megili, Alfons Sollner, and Zoltan Szankay—for their helpful commeiiLs and criticisms.
  • The Historical Origins of Antisemitism

    The Historical Origins of Antisemitism

    THE HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF ANTISEMITISM …Let me give you my honest advice. First, their synagogues or churches should be set on fire, and whatever does not burn up should be covered or spread over so that no one may ever be able to see a cinder of it. And this ought to be done for the honor of God and Christianity… (Martin Luther, 1543) When Wilhelm Marr, a 19th Century German journalist, coined the term antisemitism, he was giving a new expression to a very old hatred. Antisemitism, the hatred of Jews and Judaism, has roots of ancient origin, pre-dating the Christian era and evolving throughout the Middle Ages into the modern era. Throughout their history, Jews have been the victims of a persistent pattern of persecution, culminating finally in the 20th Century in mass murder. The term denoting hatred of the Jews – antisemitism – is spelled here and hereafter unhyphenated and in the lower case. This spelling is more historically and etymologically correct since “Semitic” refers not to a race of people, as Marr and other racists of his time wrongly believed, but to a group of languages which includes Arabic as well as Hebrew. Hence, the oft-used spelling “anti-Semitism” means, literally, a prejudice against Semitic-speaking people, not the hatred of people adhering to the Jewish religion and culture. ANTISEMITISM DURING THE PRE-CHRISTIAN ERA Expressions of anti-Jewish prejudice appeared as early as the 4th Century B.C.E. in Greece and Egypt, whose people drew stark distinction between themselves and others, whom they regarded as “strangers,” “foreigners,” or “barbarians.” Jewish religious practice, based as it was on an uncompromising monotheism and strict adherence to their religious laws and social customs, only heightened endemic suspicions and excited hostility in societies already prone to ethnocentric excess.
  • Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va

    Guides to German Records Microfilmed at Alexandria, Va

    GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA. No. 32. Records of the Reich Leader of the SS and Chief of the German Police (Part I) The National Archives National Archives and Records Service General Services Administration Washington: 1961 This finding aid has been prepared by the National Archives as part of its program of facilitating the use of records in its custody. The microfilm described in this guide may be consulted at the National Archives, where it is identified as RG 242, Microfilm Publication T175. To order microfilm, write to the Publications Sales Branch (NEPS), National Archives and Records Service (GSA), Washington, DC 20408. Some of the papers reproduced on the microfilm referred to in this and other guides of the same series may have been of private origin. The fact of their seizure is not believed to divest their original owners of any literary property rights in them. Anyone, therefore, who publishes them in whole or in part without permission of their authors may be held liable for infringement of such literary property rights. Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 58-9982 AMERICA! HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE fOR THE STUDY OP WAR DOCUMENTS GUIDES TO GERMAN RECOBDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXAM)RIA, VA. No* 32» Records of the Reich Leader of the SS aad Chief of the German Police (HeiehsMhrer SS und Chef der Deutschen Polizei) 1) THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION (AHA) COMMITTEE FOR THE STUDY OF WAE DOCUMENTS GUIDES TO GERMAN RECORDS MICROFILMED AT ALEXANDRIA, VA* This is part of a series of Guides prepared
  • At a Glance Concert Schedule

    At a Glance Concert Schedule

    At A Glance Concert Schedule SC- Supper Club CH- Concert Hall MB- Music Box Full Venue RT- Rooftop Deck RF- Riverfront Porch PDR- Private Dining Room Sun 4/23 CH Turning Point Church Presented by NEO Church Planting network Weekly Worship Service (View Page) Sun 4/23 SC BB King Brunch With Travis "The Moonchild" Haddix (View Page) Sun 4/23 CH Bob Mould Solo Electric Show with Hüsker Dü Frontman (Tickets) Wed 4/26 SC Topic: Cleveland Starts Here: History of Western Reserve Historical Society Storytellers: Kelly Falcone-Hall & Dennis Barrie Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties (View Page) Thu 4/27 SC Motown Night with Nitebridge Enjoy the jumpin' sounds of your favorite classic hits! (View Page) Thu 4/27 CH Dan Fogelberg Night with The Don Campbell Band (Tickets) Sun 4/30 CH Turning Point Church Presented by NEO Church Planting network Weekly Worship Service (View Page) Sun 4/30 SC Beatles Brunch With The Sunrise Jones (Tickets) Sun 4/30 SC Cleveland Songwriters Showcase Raymond Arthur Flanagan, Rebekah Jean, & Austin Stambaugh (View Page) Wed 5/3 SC Topic: Plans Made, Plans Changed: CLE’s Urban Design Storyteller: Chris Ronayne Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties (View Page) Thu 5/4 SC Rebels Without Applause One of Cleveland's Longtime Favorite Cover Bands Celebrating 35 Years! (View Page) Fri 5/5 CH Martin Barre of Jethro Tull Award-Winning Legendary Guitarist (Tickets) Fri 5/5 SC Tequila! Cinco de Mayo Party with Cats on Holiday Tequila Flights, Taco Features and more! (Tickets) Sat 5/6 SC Hey Mavis Northeast Ohio’s Favorite Americana Folk
  • Rise of Totalitarianism Ch

    Rise of Totalitarianism Ch

    RISE OF TOTALITARIANISM CH. 14.1-Revolutions in Russia Objective Review 1. What led to the Russian Revolution? 2. What was the March Revolution? 3. What were Lenin’s reforms? Bolshevik Revolution • Lenin returns: Lenin in disguise, Petrograd, April 1917 w/o beard – Germany knows Lenin would stir unrest • Hurt Russian war effort • Returns in armored RR car, under German protection –* “Peace, Land, and Bread” Bolsheviks in Power • Red Guard – Armed Bolshevik enforcers • Arrest Provisional govt. officials, later disappear… • Royal family Murdered • * Russians support Bolsheviks -Call for Immediate peace with the Germans in WWI – Peasants receive farmland – Workers control factories – March 1918 sign Treaty of Brest-Litovsk Civil War Rages in Russia 1918-1920 • Red Army 1920 Lenin cleanses the earth – Bolsheviks • Vladimir Lenin is leader – Leon Trotsky military genius – Joseph Stalin political genius • White Army – Any one who was not a Bolshevik – Western nations, U.S. (sent aid) • Bolsheviks victorious • 14 million die (Due to Revolution) Lenin Restores Order • Lenin needs to restore industry • 1921 New Economic Policy (NEP) – Major industries, banks, ran by the state – Some small businesses, foreign investment encouraged – 1928 econ. back to pre- WWI levels Political Reforms • Nationalism seen as a threat Karl Marx 1818-1883 – Russia organized into small, self ran republics Known as: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics AKA: USSR, or Soviet Union • Bolshevik party becomes the Communist Party – Idea from Karl Marx – Est. dictatorship of the Communist Party not of the proletariat like Marx said Stalin Becomes dictator • 1922 Lenin suffers Leon Trotsky stroke – Who will take power? • Trotsky or Stalin • 1922-1929 struggle Joseph Stalin ensues – 1929 Stalin (political genius) forces Trotsky into exile – Stalin becomes leader (dictator) ET FINISH ALL NOTES 55…#13…BUT WAIT FOR MORE INSTRUCTIONS! Totalitarianism Chapter 14, Section 2 What is Totalitarianism? • A government that takes total control over every aspect of public and private life.
  • The Hamitic Hypothesis; Its Origin and Functions in Time Perspective Author(S): Edith R

    The Hamitic Hypothesis; Its Origin and Functions in Time Perspective Author(S): Edith R

    The Hamitic Hypothesis; Its Origin and Functions in Time Perspective Author(s): Edith R. Sanders Source: The Journal of African History, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1969), pp. 521-532 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/179896 . Accessed: 08/05/2014 00:32 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Cambridge University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of African History. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.95.104.66 on Thu, 8 May 2014 00:32:32 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Journal of African History, x, 4 (I969), pp. 521-532 521 Printed in Great Britain THE HAMITIC HYPOTHESIS; ITS ORIGIN AND FUNCTIONS IN TIME PERSPECTIVE1 BY EDITH R. SANDERS THE Hamitic hypothesis is well-known to students of Africa. It states that everything of value ever found in Africa was brought there by the Hamites, allegedlya branchof the Caucasianrace. Seligmanformulates it as follows: Apart from relatively late Semitic influence... the civilizationsof Africa are the civilizations of the
  • Peter Kropotkin and the Social Ecology of Science in Russia, Europe, and England, 1859-1922

    Peter Kropotkin and the Social Ecology of Science in Russia, Europe, and England, 1859-1922

    THE STRUGGLE FOR COEXISTENCE: PETER KROPOTKIN AND THE SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF SCIENCE IN RUSSIA, EUROPE, AND ENGLAND, 1859-1922 by ERIC M. JOHNSON A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (History) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) May 2019 © Eric M. Johnson, 2019 The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: The Struggle for Coexistence: Peter Kropotkin and the Social Ecology of Science in Russia, Europe, and England, 1859-1922 Submitted by Eric M. Johnson in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Examining Committee: Alexei Kojevnikov, History Research Supervisor John Beatty, Philosophy Supervisory Committee Member Mark Leier, History Supervisory Committee Member Piers Hale, History External Examiner Joy Dixon, History University Examiner Lisa Sundstrom, Political Science University Examiner Jaleh Mansoor, Art History Exam Chair ii Abstract This dissertation critically examines the transnational history of evolutionary sociology during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Tracing the efforts of natural philosophers and political theorists, this dissertation explores competing frameworks at the intersection between the natural and human sciences – Social Darwinism at one pole and Socialist Darwinism at the other, the latter best articulated by Peter Alexeyevich Kropotkin’s Darwinian theory of mutual aid. These frameworks were conceptualized within different scientific cultures during a contentious period both in the life sciences as well as the sociopolitical environments of Russia, Europe, and England. This cross- pollination of scientific and sociopolitical discourse contributed to competing frameworks of knowledge construction in both the natural and human sciences.