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DARWINISN IN AMERICA.   Term Paper ID:28251 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines mixed reaction in U.S. over Darwin's theories of evolution & natural selection. Religious controversies; Scopes trial. Teaching Social Darwinisn in schools. Current historiography.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines mixed reaction in U.S. over Darwin's theories of evolution & natural selection. Religious controversies; Scopes trial. Teaching Social Darwinisn in schools. Current historiography. Paper Introduction: DARWINISM IN AMERICA This research paper discusses the reception, dissemination and teaching of the views of Charles Darwin (1809-1882) in the United States since the publication of his Origin of the Species in 1859 and his The Descent of Man in 1871. Darwinism, namely, Darwin's scientific discoveries and opinions concerning the evolution of living or organic species, including humans, and the chief natural mechanism which he said governed that evolution, natural selection, challenged traditionally held Western scientific, philosophical and theological worldviews of the origin of life and the nature of man. As such, it received a mixed reaction in the United States initially and subsequently. Modern historiography suggests that the American reception accorded to Darwinism during the late Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1999.Webb, George E. Darwinism in American Education in the 2 th Century Progressivism and American Education. 19th Century American Reactions to Darwinism Initial Reactions in the 186 s and 187 s. Darwinism, namely, Darwin's scientific discoveries and opinionsconcerning the evolution of living or organic species, including humans,and the chief natural mechanism which he said governed that evolution,natural selection, challenged traditionally held Western scientific,philosophical and theological worldviews of the origin of life and thenature of man. The Social Gospel outlook called for "a newsocial order based on Christian ethics and conscience" (Webb 41). Bible.Moreover, investigation of the natural world revealed the pattern ofbeneficent purposes for which God created the world" (4-5).However, for high Presbyterians, such as Princeton Theological SeminaryProfessor Charles Hodge, who later became one of Darwin's most severecritics, belief in God as the "creator . Fierce resistance to the use of Darwinist teachingin the public schools erupted twice in this century, in the 192 s and inrecent decades. . The organism whichdevelops the necessary variations to survive will also tend to besuccessful in sexual selection and thereby ensure the survival of thespecies because it will have a competitive advantage in the mating process.Darwin called the mechanism which produced these variations needed tosurvive natural selection, as opposed to supernatural design (God) orartificial alternatives, such as breeding. Persistent Religious Division over Darwinism. Darwin's theory of evolution challenged whether God had anything todo with the creation of man or his subsequent evolution as a species.Martin Luther said "the creation is not fortuitous but the exclusive workof divine foresight" (Wells 128). Wells said that "Darwin's theoryseemed to undercut natural theology by offering an explanation for theorigin of adaptations which was independent of, and perhaps evenincompatible with divine design" (7). There was just one difficulty. Pressures onlocal school boards at the grass roots level have continued during the199 s which has also been characterized by a new version of creationscience, known as intelligent-design theory. It was an interdenominationalProtestant movement uniting evangelical Baptists, Pentecostal Methodists,Mennonites, Seventh Day Adventists and other sects. Talmadge and Moody were the true founders of Protestantfundamentalist across the board rejection of Darwinism inasmuch as they"emphasized biblical infallibility as the foundation of meaningfulreligion" (Webb 48). Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1973.Moore, James R. flood geology," which sought toexplain the age of fossil remains by the intervention of a flood during thetime of Noah (2). The American Mind. A variety of political, economic and socialmovements used Darwinism, which came collectively to be known as SocialDarwinism, to further their agendas. Direct opposition to thatteaching failed in the 196 s so the fundamentalists switched in the 197 sand 198 s to a new strategy, the demand that alternative theories ofcreation and human development be afforded equal time. He called this "the principle ofpreservation, or the survival of the fittest" (Wells 167). . Conclusion Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection met a mixedreaction in the United States because they profoundly challenged deeplyheld traditional worldviews. Americans began to develop an ambivalentattitude toward technology, which was seen on the one hand as a source ofmaterial progress and on the other as the cause of many of the earth'sproblems, such as the risk of nuclear or environmental destruction. religion aspect of thecontroversy over Darwinism in England was largely resolved within theframework of established religious beliefs. Some favored natural selection, based on the struggle between members of the same species, because they could then justify extreme laissez-faire economics, claiming that the crudest cutthroat business practices have biological sanction. The sales of Spencer's books reached phenomenal heights in theUnited States. The SovietSputnik sparked renewed national concerns over the low quality of scienceeducation in the public schools and prompted a new round of sciencecurriculum upgrading, the 1958 federally funded Biological SciencesCurriculum Study. Its gist is that the basicrules of science and science teaching should be revised to reflect IDtheorists' discovery in nature of "indisputable evidence of God" (Numbers15). Social Darwinism. . Neo-Lamarckism. But this is not quiteaccurate" (264). Revisionist historians such as Hull complained that"too often, all the opponents of evolutionary theory are lumped togetherand their resistance to it explained away as religious bigotry" (45 ).There were many legitimate scientific objections to Darwin's theories,especially those relating to Darwin's somewhat vague and speculativeexplanations of how natural selection operated through heredity andotherwise. Huxley generally got the best of Bishop Wilberforce in their186 debate. Youmans, did much to popularize Darwinism among the broader Americanpublic. he had been ahead of his time" (5). . Wilson did pioneering work in exploring therole of chromosomes in sex determination. This slender scientific cadre began publishing the AmericanBiology Teacher in 1973. Books appeared blamingDarwinism for most of the ills of civilization and in particular thedecline in American values. Ruse said that "one suspects that deep down many Victorians didnot much care whether or not organic evolutionism was true nor aboutChristian truths" (151). Darwinism has undergone significantmodifications at the hands of American scientists and others in the courseof gaining acceptance. Lexington: UP of Kentucky, 1994.Wells, Jonathan. In contrast, basic science in the UnitedStates was then in its infancy. God And The Natural World. Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen P, 1988.----------------------- 25 Layphilosophers such as the novelist Samuel Butler substituted an inner lifeforce for natural selection. He was joined in 1873 byAmherst Congregationalist pastor Enoch Burr and in 1877 by Presbyterianeditor and lecturer De Witt Talmadge who, Webb said, "proved particularlystrident in his attacks on Darwinian concepts" and evangelist Dwight Moody(17). Bowler,who is otherwise critical of Darwin's contributions, said "Darwin pioneeredcertain ideas that have proved immensely stimulating to modern biologists .. preserver and governor of theworld" was a matter of faith and divine inspiration which was notsusceptible to scientific proof (Wells 4 ). Hull said "modern evolutionary theory is closerto the original Darwinian formulation than it ever has been" (77). According to Ruse, "it was not until about 193 that scientists realized that . According to Conser, "most striking was thedistance of science in this period from that ideal of professionalizationand research characteristic of its twentieth-century successor . Darwin reported that a number of factorsaccounted for the emergence of new species or life forms. . . Morgan initially arguedthat "natural selection could serve only as a negative factor in evolution"(Webb 58). He also expressedthe view in his works that "all species had evolved and most likely from asingle source" which was not human (Hull 49). Modern historiography has tended to discount the importance of SocialDarwinism on the grounds that it was not true science or that it tended tosully Darwin's reputation as an original thinker by associating him withdubious causes (Bowler 157). .science in the early Republic was still carried out by individuals who wereusually self-taught or else educated in ancillary fields such as medicine"(11). Those organic beingswhich developed such variations successfully among a population ofotherwise like beings would eventually become numerous enough to constitutea new surviving species. New biology texts, which included significantcontributions from recent research such as work in genetics and evolution,entered the nation's public school system in 1963. The antievolutionist movement left an unfortunate imprint on Americanpublic education. [They] were taken toconflict with fundamental religious truths; therefore they were ridiculedand rejected" (263). Most Americans at the turn of the century had great faith in materialprogress and in science as the vehicle for its attainment. The greatest remaining hurdle facing Darwinism isthe continuing persistence of disbelief and distrust of it in significantsegments of the general lay population. Darwin's Challenge to the Existing Worldview For Europeans and white Americans of European descent, Commager said"the impact of Darwinism on religion was shattering; its impact onphilosophy was revolutionary" (83). However, the controversy in both countries was largelyconducted not in the mass media but in the halls of academia, such as thefamous confrontation between Bishop Wilberforce and zoologist Thomas H.Huxley at the British Association for the Advancement of Science on June3 , 186 and the spring and summer 186 debates at the Boston Academy ofArts and Sciences and in scholarly journals during which Harvard zoologistLouis Agassiz emerged as Darwin's most vocal critic and Harvard botanistAsa Gray as his leading defender. His view wasthat organic beings developed such slight variations continuously, but veryslowly over time and over generations, not suddenly. One pro-Darwinian strain was represented by Gray, who defendedDarwin's methodology against attacks in England and America that it reliedtoo much on unproven hypotheses and theories and insufficiently on soundBaconian inductive reasoning. According to Numbers, "the 193 sand 194 s witnessed multiple attempts to create a united Fundamentalistfront, but each one failed" (3). Even the most liberal Protestants found it difficult to acceptDarwin's theory of natural selection. Descent of Man. Gray said, prophetically as itturned out, that evolution "is not unlikely to be accepted long before itcan be proved" (Webb 14). . The scientific revolution of the 16th and17th centuries ended the medieval world view under which "the universe wasfinite, hierarchical, and purposefully ordered" and replaced it with "aninfinite universe organized by mechanical laws" (Conser 1 ). Most leading American Protestantswere influenced during the 18th and early 19th centuries by a combinationof Sir Francis Bacon's use of the scientific method, the Newtonianrevolution, natural theology and Scottish common sense philosophy.According to Conser, for most of them, "scientific study of the Book ofNature they believed, complimented pious examination of the . Webb said "Spencer's ideas struck aresponsive chord in Gilded Age America" (37). Variations of Lamarck's thinking, neo-Lamarckism, came to dominatethe American scientific approach to Darwinism in the late 19th century. Christianfundamentalists became much more adept at marketing their wares led bysmooth-talking televangelists such as Billy Graham and others. natural selection operating on randomvariations" (1). By the 188 , biology texts inmost American universities incorporated Darwin's basic teachings onevolution. The Darwinian Revolution. In 1963, Morris, Whitcomb and othersset up the Creation Research Society to fund research to convince thepublic of the scientific validity of a literal reading of the Genesiscreation story and in 1965 the Bible-Science Newsletter to sell that story.A few reputable scientists joined the creationists, but the vast majoritydid not. Instead of an orderly and beneficentdivine purpose being played out in nature, Conser said that "Darwinpictured the natural processes as often violent and always random" (136).Ruse said that while Darwin was flexible on many aspects of his theory andacknowledged that "natural selection was only one of a number ofevolutionary mechanisms . . However,American Protestantism was split from the outset between liberals andconservatives on Darwinism. Ruse said most Englishscientists accepted evolution but they "argued that natural selection couldnot be the only or even the main cause of evolutionary change" (2 6). Darwin's Views and The Challenge They Posed Origin of the Species. Englishfundamental or evangelical Christians early on lost the battle overDarwinism in England. Those which did not would perish or becomeextinct. The Evolution Controversy in America. A number of national publishers issued new texts "whichdownplayed evolution" (Webb 1 8). He suggested that a change in man's natural habitat, fromtrees to plains, may have accounted for his new posture. Commager said that "Americans believed in a universegoverned by laws which were immutable and unassailable but which left room,somehow, for the play of free will" (23). There were significantdifferences in the reception accorded to Darwinism in England and America.Debates began on both sides of the Atlantic in the summer of 186 , a fewmonths after Darwin's first book had been published. According to Webb,"evolutionary ideas were clearly visible in the botany and zoology textsused [in the public schools] early in the 19 s as well as in the newerbiology texts that followed curricular reforms during the second decade ofthe twentieth century" (62). FundamentalistMethodist and white racist pressures had resulted in the dismissal of amoderate evolutionist Alexander Mitchell at Vanderbilt University in 1878and fundamentalist Presbyterian pressures the dismissal of another teacher,James Woodrow at Columbia Theological Seminary in South Carolina in 1888. According to Webb, "a new respect for religious faith and theinstitutional church emerged from America's war-time experience" (118).Evangelicals became much better organized not just in the South butelsewhere in the Sunbelt and throughout the nation. An early example about the turn of the century was whatNumbers called the 7th Day Adventist Protestant sect's "uncompromisingliteral reading of Genesis, developed and popularized by the Adventist'geologist' George McCready Price, . Darwin's concept of natural selection went into temporaryeclipse, only to be resuscitated later by the 'Modern Synthesis' of thelate 193 s and early 194 s. In 1923 Baptist evangelist Thomas Martinalleged that the teaching of evolution in American high schools was doomingstudents to hell. In 1961 fundamentalists Henry Morris and JohnWhitcomb published The Genesis Flood. Webb said that "the reconciliation of evolution andtheology remained primarily a northern phenomenon" (33). Commager saidAmericans "could . The Modern Synthesis and further advances in biogenetic researchfilled in many of the gaps left by Darwin in his original theories ofevolution and natural selection. . Commager said such doctrineswere "welcome enough to those whose lives had fallen in pleasant places andwho could point to their own survival as conclusive evidence that they werein harmony with nature," but they were "scarcely acceptable to those whomthe inexorable operations of nature or society condemned to unfitness orextinction" (88). . he wanted to keep [it] as the major cause ofevolution" (2 6). That campaigntemporarily succeeded in three states, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennesseeand temporarily by obtaining a ban on textbooks mentioning evolution inOklahoma while it failed in many others. John Calvin said "not one drop of rainfalls without God's sure command" (134). Moreover, Darwin's concept of slow natural evolution over eonscontradicted the central thesis of Genesis that God had created the world6, years before in six days. John Scopes, a young science teacher and football coachin Dayton, Tennessee, decided with the support of the American CivilLiberties Union to test the constitutionality of the Butler Act, hence thewidely reported 'Monkey Trial,' of July 1 -18, 1925, in which ClarenceDarrow appeared for Scopes and Bryan as a special prosecutor.Scopes was convicted, but that conviction was later overturned by theTennessee Supreme Court on a technicality. The Post-Darwinian Controversies. Most of the great naturalists (the forerunners ofmodern biologists) of which Darwin was a prime example were products of theleisured aristocratic classes in England and on the Continent. . subscribe to evolution, for the notion of change, ofgrowth, of development from homogeneity to heterogeneity, was part of theirexperience [but] they could not . The BCS Study triggered another two decades of fierce controversyconcerning the content of teaching of evolution. According to Moore, the science vs. In fact, some portions ofDarwinism appealed more than did others to mainstream American values andattitudes, even within the American scientific and intellectual community.Darwinism was also adapted by non-scientists to bolster political, socialand economic assumptions and programs the significance of which modernhistoriography tends to discount; however, some facets of Social Darwinismmirrored important elements of the American experience and 19th centurymindset. Two principal factors accounted for the sudden rise of anti-evolutionfundamentalist sentiment in the South during the early 192 s: (1) generaldisillusionment with the suffering during, and the outcome of, the war"added," said Webb, "to the evangelicals' feelings of despair" at thegrowing secularization of American society (56). Modern historiography suggests that theAmerican reception accorded to Darwinism during the late 19th centuryrepresented a much more complex reality than merely a confrontation betweenmodern scientific truth and old time religion. Accordingto a 1993 Gallup Poll, even though most scientists believe the earth ismore than five billion years old, 47 percent of respondents said theybelieved God created man within the past 1 , years, 35 percent believedthat evolution was divinely guided and 58 percent favored teachingcreationism in the public schools (1 ). Ruse said that "because such social views areout of favor today [such as racism and unregulated capitalism], there is atendency to deny Darwin any hand in their paternity. In 1984 the National Academy of Sciences condemned creationism, whichit defined as "beliefs in a young Earth and universe, flood geology, andthe miraculous origination of all living things" (Numbers 56). In the late 19th and early 2 th century, scientific acceptance ofDarwinism declined, only to revive later due to advances in the fields ofheredity and genetics. (2) Although the United States would catch up and surpass England inthis respect before 19 , English society during the 186 s and 187 s wasmuch further down the road to secularization than was its Americancounterpart. In England during the Victorian Age, the Industrial Revolutionushered in a new era of material prosperity characterized by the rise ofthe professional and mercantile middle classes and the broadening of thefranchise. He added that "in the 186 s, many started toconclude that God was a middle-class Englishman after all. It, nevertheless, lost momentum andremained somewhat quiescent during the 193 s and 194 s. Darwinism Comes to America. Webb said thefundamentalists "focused their energies during the 193 s toward evangelismand religious community building" (115). Columbia biologist Thomas Morganfollowed with experimental study of mutant genes. [and]ensured that evolutionists who used Darwin as a figurehead were able totake over the British scientific community" (68). In contrast, Numbers said the Origin of the Species "touched off anational debate that continues to divide American society" (1). According to Webb, "although creationists enjoyedonly mixed success in convincing educational officials and legislatures toadopt their materials and perspective, the increasing attention paid totheir ideas indirectly advanced their cause" (19 ). . What seems true is that the works of English writerHerbert Spencer, through the promotional efforts of his American agent E.M. The nature of that opposition reflected deeply rooted andconflicted attitudes by some elements of American society toward Darwinism. Commager said "it toppled Man from hisexalted position as the end and purpose of creation, the crown of Nature,and the image of God, and classified him prosaically with the anthropoids"(83). Darwinian enthusiast Oxfordbiologist Richard Dawkins referred in 1986 to: "natural selection, theblind, unconscious, automatic promise which Darwin discussed, and which weknow is the explanation for existence and apparently purposeful form oflife" (Numbers 12). They then shifted their focus tothe banning of the teaching of evolution in public schools. . In 1925 the Tennessee state legislature passed theButler Act which prohibited the teaching in state-funded schools of "anytheory that denies the story of Divine Creation of man as taught in theBible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order ofanimals" (Webb 82). The common denominator inthese and other schools of thought was an American aversion to the ideathat evolution could be disorderly, random or even fortuitous. McCosh drew adistinction between evolution which he accepted and natural selection whichhe said "would result in the law of the jungle" (Webb 3 ). According to Numbers, in the 186 s "American naturalistsembraced biological evolution gingerly, and those who did accept it tendedto downplay the importance of . Some favored natural selection, based on the struggle between different species, because they could then argue for state controls as one pushed militaristically and imperialistically against other nations!" (264). Sociologist Lester Frank called upon government toharness the forces of nature. American reactions to Darwinism were much more varied and tended tocontain an even higher religious and other non-scientific content than inEngland. Charles Hodge's Critique of Darwinism. In 1921, former presidential candidate William Bryan,concerned about the decline of Christian values and the traditionalAmerican way of life, joined the antievolution crusade as one of itsprincipal spokesmen; (2) the fundamentalists had only pseudo-science tooffer to support their antievolution theories, but they received a bonanzawhen evidence began to appear that the American scientific community itselfwas having new doubts about the validity of some of Darwin's theories,particularly those relating to natural selection and heredity. . . Henceevolutionism was less threatening than it had been" during the morerevolutionary periods which preceded the 186 s (251). . . Americans believed since Jacksoniantimes that in a democracy science should be made comprehensible to theaverage man. The efforts ofscientific reconcilers such as Gray and the neo-Lamarkians and of liberaltheologians, primarily among elite Protestants, such as Congregationalistpastor George Wright and Princeton President James McCosh, "did much tocalm the fears of those American intellectuals who saw in evolutionaryconcepts a challenge to religious orthodoxy" (Webb 22). Thefatalistic strain of biological determinism which was seen as central toDarwin's concept of natural selection was anathema to the pragmatic,optimistic and expansionist American spirit of the late 19th century.According to Webb, "by the mid-188 s, American neo-Lamarkism appeared to bein a superior position over the more traditional Darwinian evolutionthrough natural selection" (28). The initial publicreaction in both countries was shock. As Darwin said, "I cannot look at the universe as theresult of blind chance, yet I can see no evidence of beneficent design, orindeed design of any kind" (Hull 65). Onthe scientific side, Bowler said that "Huxley is now seen as a pseudo-Darwinist who had little real sympathy for natural selection . The federalcourts found unconstitutional as a violation of a prohibition of theseparation between church and state two equal time or balanced treatment ofevolution laws which were enacted (in Arkansas and Louisiana). The conservative wing was led at in the early187 s by Princeton Presbyterian theologian Hodge. He said in 1879 "God, in effect, has givenliving things the power to design themselves" (Bowler 97). Thedominant school of neo-Lamarckians were represented by scientists such aspaleontologist Edward Cope, zoologist Alfred Hyatt and entomologist AlpheusPackard in the 187 s, who "devoted most of their energy to searching fornatural, external causes of the origins of variations" (Numbers 34).Another school espoused theories of orthogenesis, which, according toNumbers, "depicted evolution occurring in an orderly direction, propelledby internal rather than external forces" (39). . accept determinism," because itthreatened other fundamental American beliefs, in free will and individualliberty and, for many, traditional religious values (9 ). The firstscientist to propose seriously evolution as a concept was a Frenchzoologist, Jean Lamarck (1744-182 ), who wrote in the early 18 s that"organisms changed . Most English and Continentalscientists, intellectuals and most theologians came around by the 187 s toaccept the basic Darwinian concept of evolution and discarded "the belief[held by Christians and German romantic Neo-Platonists] that every form oflife is fixed by divine will" (15). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins P, 1988.Commager, Henry Steele. As such, it received a mixed reaction in the United Statesinitially and subsequently. Darwin And His Critics. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1998.Ruse, Michael. The Non-Darwinian Revolution. In the early 192 sBaptists attacked individuals such as Wake Forest President William Poteatand Baylor sociology professor Samuel Dow. In adapting to the need to survive in an environment of finiteresources, the organism develops characteristics helpful for that purposewhich were then passed on through reproduction during which "they will tendto produce offspring similarly situated" (Moore 126). Thepace of technological change accelerated at a dizzying rate as Americaentered the age of the Information Revolution and the great Digital Divide. Prior to 192 religious opposition to Darwinism was scatteredand disorganized. Religious controversy overDarwinism and its proper role, if any, in the public schools is not likelyto end at any time in the foreseeable future. Columbia: U of South Carolina P, 1993.Hull, David L. Nevertheless, he said that by the end of the 187 s "only ahandful of prominent scientists continued to regard Darwinism as a falsetheory" (2). Ruse said "there is no great mysteryabout why Darwin's ideas were found so objectionable. . Various national commissions in 1936 andagain in 1943 criticized the poor quality of training of biology teachersand their teaching of that subject in the public schools. Scientific Creationism and the Controversies after 1945 Religious fundamentalist opposition to the teaching of Darwinism inthe public schools re-emerged in the post-World War II period revitalized,better financed and organized, and with a more smoothly orchestratedmessage, encapsulated in its new pseudo-science, Scientific Creationism.Meanwhile, Darwinian theory emerged more triumphant and better establishedin the eyes of the American scientific and intellectual community than everbefore. However, Webb said this "newview of biology went largely unnoticed by the opponents of evolution" (62).Numbers said "in spite of the much heralded collapse of Darwinism, theantievolutionist movement in America failed to recruit a single prominentscientist" (128). . Various mediational theologists ortheistic evolutionists sought to reconcile Darwinism and Christianity. Numbers said that "reactions to ID theory among naturalisticevolutionists were overwhelmingly negative" (2 ). To the extent Darwinismrepresented a tool for advancing human freedom and progress in materialterms, it was welcome on American shores. Rusesummarized these schools of thought as follows: "Some welcomed evolution because they found in it support for a general progressive trend they wanted to read into the development of human society. One measure of theirtemporary success is that during the 198 presidential campaign, Republicancandidate Ronald Reagan, who had supported equal time legislation while hewas Governor of California, referred to evolution as "a scientific theoryonly" and said "the biblical story of creation should also be taught" inthe public schools (Webb 217). In 186 Agassiz dismissed Darwinism "as aningenious but fanciful theory" (Numbers 31). Scopes Trial. However, their introduction into the American public schoolsystem came more slowly, as an outgrowth of the pre-World War I progressivemovement for political and social reform in which the adoption of modernscientific methods was seen as a key ingredient. He and manyother modern historians argue that the religious and philosophical debatein England over Darwinism, while contentious, was largely an elitephenomenon, which largely played itself out long before the turn of thecentury. The religious debate over evolutionism was sharp but relatively briefin England. In theuniverse as revealed by the scientific discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton,fixed laws of nature prevailed, but "the first creation, life, mind andsoul [remained] the province of the theologian" (Hull 5-6). New Haven: Yale UP, 195 .Conser, Walter H., Jr. Agassiz's more substantive criticisms were thatDarwin's theory of evolution was atheistic "because it claimed that specieswere derived from other species by natural causes, rather than createdimmutable by design" and wrong because it denied "the existence of anintelligence guiding the action of nature in every respect" (Wells 188 andWebb 12). Yet one scientific development after another, Darwinism,Freudian psychology and advanced physics, contributed to a growing publicawareness and unease that nman's fate was increasingly controlled by elitescientists yet science itself appeared largely to remain ever more complexand the source of many problems. In Darwin's view, humans were just one of many lifeforms which had evolved through natural selection of adaptive variations.The Descent of Man was "a powerful attempt not only to demonstrate the link[of men] with the animal kingdom but to explain how mankind acquired thosefaculties which were so long regarded as uniquely human" (Bowler 142).Darwin emphasized man's adaptive development of an erect posture whichdistinguished him from other anthropoids and freed his hands for usefultasks such as tool-making and to the subsequent development of greaterintelligence. First, he statedthe obvious, that "under varying conditions organic beings [possess] aninfinite diversity in structure, constitution, and habits" (Moore 126).Second, each such organism undergoes a severe "struggle for existence"(126). Fundamentalist Protestant sects mounted a crusade in the 192 s toeliminate the teaching of evolution in the public schools which had rootsdating back to the fundamentalists' objections to Darwinism in the late19th century. B. . Bowler said "by the 187 s Darwinism hademerged as a dominant force in the British scientific community" (71). Scientific Creationism. Revisionist historian Moore said "for one hundred years it has beenfashionable to employ military metaphors to characterise the religiousdebates over evolution in the later nineteenth century" (ix). According to Bowler, Agassiz saw "the history of life as adiscontinuous process in which the species are distinct units arranged inan orderly pattern of development" (58-59). Thebasic way in which English Christians came to accept Darwinism was byaccepting evolution while at the same time either rejecting or diluting theconcept of natural selection, which ran counter to English and Europeannotions of linear and rational progress. His basic message was that the competitive struggle forexistence in nature was mirrored in economic life which would best prosperif those who had survived, the fittest, were left to their own devices freeof governmental interference (laissez faire) and the natural laws ofeconomics were allowed to operate. Practical and utilitarian in its outlook, American science in the185 s was "was more often than not equated," except for a few exceptionswho tended to be found in eastern universities such as Harvard, withtechnological inventions such as the reaper and the sewing machine (Conser11). DARWINISM IN AMERICA This research paper discusses the reception, dissemination andteaching of the views of Charles Darwin (18 9-1882) in the United Statessince the publication of his Origin of the Species in 1859 and his TheDescent of Man in 1871. Mendelian genetics and Darwinianselection are compliments, not rivals" (232). Another school called Reform Darwinism really stood Darwinism on itshead, led by Christians such as Robert Bannister who believed that "forhumanity to prosper, society must transcend nature, not meekly surrender toit" (Webb 39-4 ). Between 19 5and 1912 embryologist E. Current historiography onDarwinism has helped correct some past errors, has overlooked someimportant earlier strains of Social Darwinism and tends to view Darwin'saccomplishments somewhat uncritically and almost entirely from an elitiststandpoint. Modern historiography has been fulsome inits praise for Darwinism. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1979.Numbers, Ronald L. Although Hollywood treated thetrial as a victory for common sense and a triumph of the intellect overbigotry, Webb said that in fact, "the trial did not end the antievolutionmovement or even slow it down" (91). Even though it lacked a sound scientific foundation, antievolutionismemerged as a national force by 1924. because of needs imposed by environmental changes"and that "these acquired characteristics could be inherited" (Webb 2).Various French and English geologists through their discoveries of fossilremains cast doubt on the truth of the literal Old Testament story ofcreation and predisposed some European scientists to believe that the earthmight be old enough to encompass the slow process of evolution whichDarwin's theories envisaged. The dominant view of cosmology in Western philosophy since the timeof Plato and Aristotle in ancient Athens had been teleological -i.e "thebelief that things in the empirical world strive to attain ends" (Hull 56).According to Conser, "the Enlightenment commitment to science as aninstrument for advancing the happiness and material well-being of mankindreinforced the view of science as essentially a pursuit of utilitarianknowledge" (11). Bowler said "Darwinian images were infact employed by a wide range of political philosophies" (161). . Works CitedBowler, Peter J. Nevertheless, he saidthat "support for creationism ran deep in American society" (9). If it represented another form oftyranny in the guise of biological determinism, it was not. There were reasons having to do with differences in American andEnglish culture and society and the role of science and religion in eachwhich accounted for the fact that the initial American scientificcontroversy over Darwinism was more muted than in England and largelyechoed the latter and that the religious debate over it in America was moreintense and protracted. Gray's response to thiscriticism was that Darwinism and religion were compatible in that "Darwin'stheory of evolution merely described how the divine plan was proceeding"(Webb 7). (1) In the mid-19th century, the center of theoretical research inthe life sciences and other scientific fields related to evolution, such asgeology, was in Europe. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.