Article ID: CBB001023982

Social Darwinism: From Reality to Myth and from Myth to Reality (2011)

unapi

Bacquemont, Daniel (Author)


Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
Volume: 42
Pages: 12--19


Publication Date: 2011
Edition Details: Part of a special issue, “Defining Darwinism: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Debate”
Language: English

Considering the variety of contradictory definitions which have been attributed to the term in the course of more than a century, one may be tempted to admit that `Social Darwinism' can be reduced to a social myth. But it seems nevertheless necessary to answer the question: what has been called `Social Darwinism' for more than one century and why was the expression used in a negative way to express contradictory opinions which sometimes have nothing to do with Darwin's theory. What we still call `Social Darwinism' is the result of a misunderstanding: the theories expressed under that phrase have little to do with the Darwinian concepts of natural selection or descent with modification. They have their origin in a pre-darwinian conception of the struggle for existence, which Darwin used in a metaphorical sense. This confusion will then appear to refer clearly to the relationship we establish between biology and society, whether biological laws are directly prolonged in society, or more or less intermingle in a close network. The issue of the definition of Social Darwinism depends obviously on the possible answers to this question, and so does the issue of redefining Darwinism at large.

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Article Hull, David L. (2011) Defining Darwinism. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (p. 2). unapi

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Authors & Contributors
Ruse, Michael
Antonio Lombardi
Mazzeo, Marco
Wortmann, Hendrik
Swetlitz, Marc
Sullivan, Gregory Franzis
Concepts
Evolution
Social Darwinism
Darwinism
Science and society
Science and politics
Biology
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
21st century
20th century, early
18th century
Places
South America
United States
Spain
Portugal
Japan
Germany
Institutions
Oxford University
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