Social Darwinism Research Paper

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When exploring Darwin’s theory of human evolution and natural selection there are many ambiguities that cannot be overlooked. When it comes to moral and social connotations of his revolutionary scientific findings, Darwin left many question unanswered. Interpreters and political leaders found in the ambiguities of Darwin’s theory legitimation for the social ideologies they stood for. Generally social Darwinism is described as the process in which the Darwinian theory of biological evolution is applied to societal philosophies and ideologies. Darwin influenced many movements around the world, especially in the European region, but it was most often associated with the German history of eugenics and racial extermination. In the nineteenth and …show more content…

By the 1890s, Darwin’s theories were mostly associated with racism, imperialism, and suppression of the working class. At this point Darwinism had become popular among scholars who started to coin the idea of social Darwinism by applying his scientific theories to social matters. Already established ideas of racial prejudice were built on newly introduced ideas of social Darwinism. Social Darwinism began to spread among members of the working class. The German working class had no interest in politics, philosophical theories, or religious propaganda but they were quite intrigued with scientific arguments that favoured a racial hierarchy. As a result, political organizations such as the Nazi began to rely on Darwin’s scientific arguments to gain prominence. The Nazis used concepts like “the survival of the fittest” to stress the Darwinian notion of population pressure to further promote the eugenics movement that had emerged in Germany. There has always been an element of anti-semitism and racism in the German government so it was only inevitable that they would take advantage of the vague and dubious language of Darwin’s work to promote a racial hierarchy. Darwin himself was not a eugenists but his theory fuelled fears that produced the need for a system of selective breeding in Germany. It is not merely a coincidence that the founder of modern eugenics was Darwin’s cousin, Galton, and that the president of the Eugenics Society in Britain was Darwin’s

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