Darwin, Wallace, and social Darwinism.

431 Pages·2017·18.78 MB·English

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Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014
1-1-1996
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Edward S. Rayher
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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Rayher, Edward S., "Confusion and cohesion in emerging sciences : Darwin, Wallace, and social
Darwinism." (1996). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 2292.
https://doi.org/10.7275/yz3d-ce74 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/2292
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CONFUSION AND COHESION IN EMERGING SCIENCES
DARWIN WALLACE, AND SOCIAL DARWINISM
,
A Dissertation Presented
by
EDWARD S. RAYHER
Submitted to the Graduate School of the
University of Massachusetts Amherst
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
September 1996
Department of Philosophy
(cT) Copyright by Edward S. Rayher 1996
All Rights Reserved
CONFUSION AND COHESION IN EMERGING SCIENCES
DARWIN WALLACE, AND SOCIAL DARWINISM
,
A Dissertation Presented
by
EDWARD S. RAYHER
Approved as to style and content by:
fcwr K- 4-tu-
Robert 1 Ackermann, Chair
Jf.
Stan Rachootin, Member
Robison, Department Head
For Alfred Russel Wallace,
if his spirit still likes to read.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks are due to Bob Ackermann for his
patience and guidance. The Alternate Track also deserves
thanks for making my stay at the University interesting and
productive. I also wish to give credit to Val Dusek, who
gave pertinent criticism of a draft of this work.
v
ABSTRACT
CONFUSION AND COHESION IN EMERGING SCIENCES:
DARWIN WALLACE, AND SOCIAL DARWINISM
,
SEPTEMBER 1996
EDWARD S. RAYHER, B.A., UNION COLLEGE
M.A., McGILL UNIVERSITY
M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
M.F.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
Ph D UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST
. . ,
Directed by: Professor Robert J. Ackermann
The thesis of this dissertation is that not only was
Darwin the first Social Darwinist, but that only through
appreciation of the roles of confusion, metaphysics, the
social and political context, and the work of Alfred Russel
Wallace can a better understanding of Darwin's achievement
be accomplished.
By revealing and then analyzing the Social Darwinist
aspects of Darwin's science of transmutation the position
—
of most critics who hold that Darwin's Social Darwinist
followers perverted his "pure" science--is debunked.
Darwin's development of a race war theory was done for
scientific reasons which cannot be stripped away to reveal
non-political "core" without utterly transforming his
a
ideas. For instance, Darwin developed a biological ranking
vi
of indigenous peoples which helped fill in evidential gaps
for the theory of evolution as well as provide confirmation
for his radical form of reductive materialism.
Darwin's Social Darwinism has been noticed by a few
critics but is usually dismissed as either ephemeral or
,
indicative of commonly-held "backround" political biases.
The first view is shown to be inadequate by revelation of
the deep relation of his metaphysics to his science. The
second is exploded through an examination of the work of
Alfred Russel Wallace. He opposed Darwin's concept of race
war, and his opposition was rooted in his commitment to an
emergentist metaphysics. Once the juxtaposition of the
social and political aspects of Wallace's work to that of
Darwin is provided, the wider context of their work is
revealed by an examination of Darwin's use of Malthus, the
politics of emerging professional classes, Victorian birth
control, and the work of T.H. Huxley.
Revelation of the intimate social and political
details of the scientific work of Darwin and Wallace helps
to create an understanding of how nineteenth century
science was constituted and demonstrates that the
particular historical relations of science and ideology
make the concept of "pure science" an oxymoron.
Vll
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
v
ABSTRACT
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
xi
Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION
1
A. Organization
6
II. DARWIN WAS A SOCIAL DARWINIST 13
....
A. Pure Science, Politics and History 13
B. Darwin and Social Darwinism 19
1. Haeckel's discovery of love at the atomic
level 34
2. Natives and the ranking of species 66
. .
C. Progress, Craniometries and Race 72
....
1. Negroes, women, and sympathy 90
D. Scientific Origins of Scientific Racism 119
. .
E. Conclusion to Chapter Two 136
F. Chapter II Notes 144
III. ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE:
CRITIC of SOCIAL DARWINISM 155
A. Wallace's Work in the Darwinian Context . . 155
1. Wallace's life 156
2. The politics of Victorian evolutionary
science 154
B. Natives and the Continuity Question. . . • 168
1. Interaction with Natives 175
2. Slaves, cannibals, society and
technology I"78
3. "Necessary" extinction and progress . . 195
4. Decoupling Social Darwinism: the
emergence of politics 204
viii