Darwinism, War and History: The Debate Over the Biology of War from the 'Origin of Species' to the First World WarThis book challenges the received view that Darwinism generated essentially aggressive and warlike social values and pugnacious images of humankind. Paul Crook reconstructs the influential discourse of "peace biology," whose liberal vision was of a basically free humanity, not fettered by iron laws of biological necessity or governed by violent genes. By exploring a gamut of Darwinian readings of history and war, mainly in the English-speaking world prior to 1919, this study throws important new light on militarism, peace movements, the origins of World War I and British social thought. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 79
Page 1
... thought about the connection between Darwinism and war . On the one hand , he blamed ' the frightful welter of blood ' on the ' gross perversion ' of Darwin's views by German biologists , who ignored the mental and moral qualities of ...
... thought about the connection between Darwinism and war . On the one hand , he blamed ' the frightful welter of blood ' on the ' gross perversion ' of Darwin's views by German biologists , who ignored the mental and moral qualities of ...
Page 3
... thought , sceptical of analogy and determinism , proved of major benefit to the peace tradition . Its talk was of humans being able to escape the thralls of a violent nature , being able to construct an independent culture and morality ...
... thought , sceptical of analogy and determinism , proved of major benefit to the peace tradition . Its talk was of humans being able to escape the thralls of a violent nature , being able to construct an independent culture and morality ...
Page 4
... thought is treated when appropriate , the primary focus is upon Britain . The following chapters concentrate upon war / peace biology as dis- course . It is beyond the scope of this enterprise to judge the complex specificities of ...
... thought is treated when appropriate , the primary focus is upon Britain . The following chapters concentrate upon war / peace biology as dis- course . It is beyond the scope of this enterprise to judge the complex specificities of ...
Page 5
... thought was much remarked on . War biology was part of a widely shared language of the age . Nobody denies that this discourse absorbed a disconcerting share of scientific quackery , of ideologically conditioned and self - serving ...
... thought was much remarked on . War biology was part of a widely shared language of the age . Nobody denies that this discourse absorbed a disconcerting share of scientific quackery , of ideologically conditioned and self - serving ...
Page 8
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Contents
The Darwinian legacy | 6 |
The age of Spencer and Huxley | 29 |
Crisis in the west the prewar generation and the new biology | 63 |
The natural decline of warfare antiwar evolutionism prior to 1914 | 98 |
The First World War man the fighting animal | 130 |
The survival of peace biology | 153 |
Naturalistic fallacies and noble ends | 176 |
Other editions - View all
Darwinism, War and History: The Debate over the Biology of War from the ... Paul Crook No preview available - 1994 |
Common terms and phrases
A. R. Wallace aggression American analogy Angell army Bagehot behaviour Benjamin Kidd biological biologists Bloch Britain British Cambridge caused Chalmers Mitchell civilisation civilization competition concept conflict crowd culture Darwinian debate degeneration discourse doctrine dysgenic E. O. Wilson economic Essays ethics Eugenics Review eugenists evolutionary factors fighting animal fittest force genetic German Graham Wallas Havelock Ellis hereditarian heredity human nature humankind Huxley ideal ideas imperial individual inheritance intellectual Jordan Karl Pearson Kellogg Kidd Kropotkin liberal London Malthus man's militarist military modern moral nations natural selection naturalistic nineteenth century Novicow organic pacifist peace biology peace eugenics Pearson philosophy physical political population primal primitive progress Psychology pugnacity race racial Raymond Pearl reprinted scientific Social Darwinism Social Darwinist socialist society sociobiology Sociology species Spencer struggle for existence Studies survival T. H. Huxley teleology thought tradition Victorian violence Wallace war's warfare wars Weismann York