IsisCB Explore

Article ID: CBB000470265

Becoming a Darwinian: The Micro-Politics of Sir Francis Galton's Scientific Career 1859--65 (2004)

Waller, John C. (Author)

Annals of Science: The History of Science and Technology
Volume: 61
Pages: 141--163

Outside Links

WorldCat

Google Scholar

JSTOR

Academia.edu

Human genetics Darwinism Heredity Professions and professionalization 19th century Galton, Francis

In 1865 Francis Galton (1822-1911) published 'Hereditary Talent and Character', an elaborate attempt to prove the heritability of intelligence on the basis of pedigree data. It was the start of Galton's lifelong commitment to investigating the statistical patterns and physiological mechanisms of hereditary transmission. Most existing attempts to explain Galton's fascination for heredity have argued that he was driven by a commitment to conservative political ideologies to seek means of naturalizing human inequality. However, this paper shows that another factor of at least equal importance has been overlooked by Galton scholars: his determination during the 1860s to be accepted among the ranks of the Darwinian inner circle. By hitching his career to the fortunes of what looked likely to emerge as a new scientific elite, Galton felt that he could bypass the typically slow and uncertain route to achieving scientific distinction. For this essentially strategic reason, between 1860 and 1865 he drifted away from a set of existing scientific concerns that were failing to deliver the approbation that he desired. Earnestly seeking to ingratiate himself with the Darwinian lobby, he then toyed with a variety of potential research projects relevant to Darwinian evolution. Yet Galton consistently failed to stimulate the enthusiasm of the Darwinians. Finally, however, after several months of ruminating, in 1864 he settled on a study of eminent pedigrees as a subject that was both germane and highly useful to the Darwinian enterprise. Galton's willingness to shift the direction of his scientific career during the 1860s underscores the importance of examining the micro-politics of scientific careers in addition to their broader social and political context. This account also emphasizes the limitations of class-based explanations even when considering scientists whose work seems so manifestly indicative of ideological motivation.

...More

Citation URI

https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000470265/

Citations Indexes

Similar Citations

Article Bowler, Peter J.; (2014)
Francis Galton's Saltationism and the Ambiguities of Selection (/isis/citation/CBB001421642/)

Article Roll-Hansen, Nils; (2009)
Sources of Wilhelm Johannsen's Genotype Theory (/isis/citation/CBB000932223/)

Chapter Dupré, John; (2010)
Postgenomic Darwinism (/isis/citation/CBB001023137/)

Book Sweeney, Gerald; (2001)
Fighting for the Good Cause: Reflections on Francis Galton's Legacy to American Hereditarian Psychology (/isis/citation/CBB000101131/)

Article Paul, Diane B.; Day, Benjamin; (2008)
John Stuart Mill, Innate Differences, and the Regulation of Reproduction (/isis/citation/CBB000831702/)

Article Nicholas W. Gillham; (2015)
The Battle Between the Biometricians and the Mendelians: How Sir Francis Galton’s Work Caused his Disciples to Reach Conflicting Conclusions About the Hereditary Mechanism (/isis/citation/CBB738872407/)

Article Waller, John C.; (2002)
Putting Method First: Re-appraising the Extreme Determinism and Hard Hereditarianism of Sir Francis Galton (/isis/citation/CBB000200314/)

Article Kampourakis, Kostas; (2013)
Mendel and the Path to Genetics: Portraying Science as a Social Process (/isis/citation/CBB001252323/)

Article Polizello, Andreza; Pereira Martins, Lilian Al-Chueyr; (2012)
Modelos microscópicos de herança no século XIX (/isis/citation/CBB001212015/)

Book Bulmer, Michael G.; (2003)
Francis Galton: Pioneer of Heredity and Biometry (/isis/citation/CBB000470946/)

Chapter Larson, Edward J.; (2010)
Biology and the Emergence of the Anglo-American Eugenics Movement (/isis/citation/CBB001020302/)

Article Radick, Gregory; (2011)
Physics in the Galtonian Sciences of Heredity (/isis/citation/CBB001023997/)

Article Burbridge, David; (2001)
Francis Galton on twins, heredity and social class (/isis/citation/CBB000100554/)

Article Waller, John C.; (2001)
Ideas of heredity, reproduction and eugenics in Britain, 1800--1875 (/isis/citation/CBB000100764/)

Chapter Castañeda, Luzia Aurélia; (2002)
Testando uma teoria de herança: Francis Galton e os experimentos com a pangênese (/isis/citation/CBB000750278/)

Article Charles H. Pence; (2022)
Of stirps and chromosomes: Generality through detail (/isis/citation/CBB367382199/)

Article Fancher, Raymond E.; (1979)
A note on the origin of the term “nature and nurture” (/isis/citation/CBB000009023/)

Article Cowan, Ruth Schwartz; (1977)
Nature and nurture: The interplay of biology and politics in the work of Francis Galton (/isis/citation/CBB000021981/)

Article Gökyiḡit, Emel Aileen; (1994)
The reception of Francis Galton's Hereditary genius in the Victorian periodical press (/isis/citation/CBB000065104/)

Article Fancher, Raymond E.; (1983)
Alphonse de Candolle, Francis Galton, and the early history of the nature-nurture controversy (/isis/citation/CBB000005182/)

Comments

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}