Alfred Russel Wallace

Philosophy of Nature and Man

Bibliographic Data

ID8395278
AuthorsRoger Smith (0000-0003-4720-0280, Lancaster University Ghana, corresponding author)
Year1972
Volume6
Issue2
Pages177-199
Publication date1972-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe British Journal for the History of Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-0874 • E-ISSN: 1474-001X
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0007087400012279
PMID11609879
OpenAlexW2001541681
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited36

Historians of the Victorian period have begun to re-evaluate the general background and impact of Darwin's theory of the origin of species by means of natural selection. An emerging picture suggests that the Darwinian theory of evolution was only one aspect (albeit, a major aspect) of a more general change in intellectual positions. It is possible to summarize two correlated developments in the second half of the nineteenth century: the seculariszation of majors areas of thought, and the increasing breakdown of a common intellectual milieu . Studies in linguistics, historical criticism, socio-political theory, theologys, and anthropology, besides evolutionary theory, contributed to these developments. It has also been argued that the background of evolutionary thought lay within a relatively unified early Victorian intellectual context with shared religious, moral, and scientific concepts. Evolutionary theory contributed to the disintegration of this shared context, but it did not intrinsically assume a clear demarcation between value-laden (ethical or religious) ideas and scientific ideas. On the one hand, in the later Victorian period, religious and scientific intellectuals found it increasingly hard to share common ground. On the other hand, they did sometimes share an enthusiasm for applying biological models to social and ethical theory. It is necessary to look closely before ascribing any increased differentiation of positions to the impact of evolutionary biology

Aesthetics · Context (archaeology · Criticism · Darwin (ADL · Darwinism · Enthusiasm · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Evolutionary theory · Period (music · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Value (mathematics · Evolution and Science Education · History · History of Science and Natural History · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub