Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: Ingram
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Get Book Here
Book Description
Tracing the impact of Darwin on thinkers throughout the gilded Age and the Progressive era, 'Social Darwinism' shows how a politically neutral scientific theory has been adapted with skillful rhetoric to contradictory purposes.
Author: Mike Hawkins
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521574341
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Get Book Here
Book Description
An analysis of the ideological influence of Social Darwinists in Europe and America.
Author: Robert Bannister
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 143990605X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336
Get Book Here
Book Description
Attempts to assess the role played by Darwinian ideas in the writings of English-speaking social theorists.
Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 9780807055038
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Get Book Here
Book Description
Social Darwinism in American Thought portrays the overall influence of Darwin on American social theory and the notable battle waged among thinkers over the implications of evolutionary theory for social thought and political action. Theorists such as Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner adopted the idea of the struggle for existence as justification for the evils as well as the benefits of laissez-faire modern industrial society. Others such as William James and John Dewey argued that human planning was needed to direct social development and improve upon the natural order. Hofstadter's classic study of the ramifications of Darwinism is a major analysis of the social philosophies that animated intellectual movements of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807054623
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 292
Get Book Here
Book Description
Social Darwinism in American Thought portrays the overall influence of Darwin on American social theory and the notable battle waged among thinkers over the implications of evolutionary theory for social thought and political action. Theorists such as Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner adopted the idea of the struggle for existence as justification for the evils as well as the benefits of laissez-faire modern industrial society. Others such as William James and John Dewey argued that human planning was needed to direct social development and improve upon the natural order. Hofstadter's classic study of the ramifications of Darwinism is a major analysis of the social philosophies that animated intellectual movements of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
Author: Randall Fuller
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0143130099
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314
Get Book Here
Book Description
A compelling portrait of a unique moment in American history when the ideas of Charles Darwin reshaped American notions about nature, religion, science and race “A lively and informative history.” – The New York Times Book Review Throughout its history America has been torn in two by debates over ideals and beliefs. Randall Fuller takes us back to one of those turning points, in 1860, with the story of the influence of Charles Darwin’s just-published On the Origin of Species on five American intellectuals, including Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, the child welfare reformer Charles Loring Brace, and the abolitionist Franklin Sanborn. Each of these figures seized on the book’s assertion of a common ancestry for all creatures as a powerful argument against slavery, one that helped provide scientific credibility to the cause of abolition. Darwin’s depiction of constant struggle and endless competition described America on the brink of civil war. But some had difficulty aligning the new theory to their religious convictions and their faith in a higher power. Thoreau, perhaps the most profoundly affected all, absorbed Darwin’s views into his mysterious final work on species migration and the interconnectedness of all living things. Creating a rich tableau of nineteenth-century American intellectual culture, as well as providing a fascinating biography of perhaps the single most important idea of that time, The Book That Changed America is also an account of issues and concerns still with us today, including racism and the enduring conflict between science and religion.
Author: Richard Hofstadter
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781512812350
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 208
Get Book Here
Book Description
Social Darwinism in American Thought examines the overall influence of Darwin on American social theory and the notable battle waged among thinkers over the implications of evolutionary theory for social thought and political action. Theorists such as Herbert Spencer and William Graham Sumner adopted the idea of the struggle for existence as justification for the evils--as well as the benefits--of laissez-faire modern industrial society. Others, such as William James and John Dewey, argued that human planning was needed to direct social development and improve on the natural order. Hofstadter's classic study of the ramifications of Darwinism is a major analysis of the social philosophies that animated intellectual movements of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era.
Author: Tina Gianquitto
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820346756
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 408
Get Book Here
Book Description
An engaging collection of interdisciplinary essays on the distinctive qualities of America's textual engagement with Darwinian evolutionary theory, especially in regard to On the Origin of Species, which highlights the influence of prevalent cultural anxieties on interpretation.
Author: Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190625384
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263
Get Book Here
Book Description
Long before the United States was a nation, it was a set of ideas, projected onto the New World by European explorers with centuries of belief and thought in tow. From this foundation of expectation and experience, America and American thought grew in turn, enriched by the bounties of the Enlightenment, the philosophies of liberty and individuality, the tenets of religion, and the doctrines of republicanism and democracy. Crucial to this development were the thinkers who nurtured it, from Thomas Jefferson to Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. DuBois to Jane Addams, and Betty Friedan to Richard Rorty. The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History traces how Americans have addressed the issues and events of their time and place, whether the Civil War, the Great Depression, or the culture wars of today. Spanning a variety of disciplines, from religion, philosophy, and political thought, to cultural criticism, social theory, and the arts, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen shows how ideas have been major forces in American history, driving movements such as transcendentalism, Social Darwinism, conservatism, and postmodernism. In engaging and accessible prose, this introduction to American thought considers how notions about freedom and belonging, the market and morality -- and even truth -- have commanded generations of Americans and been the cause of fierce debate.
Author: Mark Francis
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801445903
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 472
Get Book Here
Book Description
The ideas of the English philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) have shaped evolutionary theory, philosophy of science, sociology & politics. This work aims to dispel the plethora of misinformation surrounding Spencer, throwing light on the broader cultural history of the 19th century.
