1. 1
• Positivism
• Herbert Spencer
• Darwin’s Evolutionary Theo
• Principles of Eugenics
• II World War
Classe VG:
Marcelli, Pacini, Pallini
2. Positivism
Positivism is the philosophy of science according to which the information
derived from logical and mathematical treatments and reports of sensory
experience is the exclusive source of all authoritative knowledge; moreover,
there is valid knowledge (truth) only in this derived knowledge.
Verified data received from the senses are known as empirical evidence.
Positivism holds that society, like the physical world, operates according to general
laws. Introspective and intuitive knowledge is rejected. Although the positivist
approach has been a recurrent theme in the history of Western thought, the modern
sense of the approach was developed by the philosopher and founding
sociologist Auguste Comte in the early 19th
century.
Comte argued that much as the physical world operates according to gravity and
other absolute laws, so does society. Positivism is a philosophical system that
holds that every rationally justifiable assertion can be verified through
science, logic or mathematics. Positivism rejects metaphysics and theism.
3. Social Darwinism
Social Darwinists generally argue that the strong should see their
wealth and power increase while the weak should see their wealth and
power decrease. Different social Darwinists have different views about
which groups of people are the strong and the weak, and they also hold
different opinions about the precise mechanism that should be used to
promote strength and punish weakness. Many such views stress
competition between individuals in laissez-faire capitalism, while
others motivated ideas of eugenics, racism, imperialism, fascism,
nazism, and struggle between national or racial groups. The term social
Darwinism gained widespread currency when used after 1944 by
opponents of these earlier concepts.
Modern name given to various
theories of society, which are claimed
to have applied biological concepts of
natural selection and survival of the
fittest to sociology and politics.
They emerged
in U.K., U.S.A.
and Western
Europe in the
1870s.
After the
atrocities of
the II World
War
Because of the negative
connotations of the theory of
social Darwinism, few people
would describe themselves as
social Darwinists and, today, the
term is generally seen as
4. Creationists have often maintained that social Darwinism - leading to
policies designed to make the weak perish - is a logical consequence of
"Darwinism" - the theory of natural selection in biology.
Natural selection does not imply that a phenomenon is good or that it
ought to be used as a moral guide in human society.
iologists and historians stated
that is a fallacy appeals to
nature, since the theory of
natural selection is merely
intended as a description of
a biological phenomenon.
Social Darwinism owed more to Herbert Spencer's ideas, together with
genetics and a Protestant Nonconformist tradition with roots in Hobbes
and Malthus. While most scholars recognize some historical links
between the popularization of Darwin's theory and forms of social
Darwinism, they also maintain that social Darwinism is not a necessary
consequence of the principles of biological evolution. Scholars debate the
extent to which the various social Darwinist ideologies reflect Charles
Darwin's own views on human social and economic issues. His writings
have passages that can be interpreted as opposing aggressive
individualism, while other passages appear to promote it. Others argue
that Darwin's view gradually changed and came to incorporate views
from interpreters of his theory such as Spencer. Actually Spencer's
Lamarckian evolutionary ideas about society were published before
Darwin. Spencer supported laissez-faire capitalism on the basis of his
Lamarckian belief, that struggle for survival spurred self-improvement
5. Darwin 1809/82
“evolution gradually happens through
small changes.”
Wild Domesticated
studies the selection
of living animals
The selection sets naturally:
•the strongest survives
•who guarantee the species survival
The selection happens after man’s decision:
•economical advantage
•aesthetical aspect
noting some
differences
Evolutionary
Theory
worked out
•reproductions
•variations
•selection
based on three
hypothesis
“The origin of the species”
(1859)
wrote
The changes have the living species and
natural selections that happen.
in which
express
6. Herbert Spencer
Herbert Spencer (27 April 1820 – 8 December
1903) was an English philosopher, biologist,
anthropologist, sociologist, and prominent
classical liberal political theorist of the
Victorian era.
Spencer developed an all-embracing
conception of evolution as the progressive
development of the physical world, biological
organisms, the human mind, and human
culture and societies. He was "an enthusiastic
exponent of evolution" and even "wrote about
evolution before Darwin did.”
As a polymath, he contributed to a wide range
of subjects, including ethics, religion,
anthropology, economics, political theory,
philosophy, literature, biology, sociology, and
7. Philosophy
Spencer saw philosophy as a synthesis of the fundamental principles of the
special sciences, a sort of scientific summa to replace the theological systems of
the Middle Ages. He thought of unification in terms of development, and his
whole scheme was in fact suggested to him by the evolution of biological
species. He argued that there is a fundamental law of
matter: “the law of the persistence of
force” from which it follows that nothing
homogeneous can remain as such if it is
acted upon, because any external force must
affect some part of it differently from other
parts and cause difference and variety to
arise.
First Principles
From the above it would follow that any force that continues to act on what is
homogeneous must bring about an increasing variety. This “law of the
multiplication of effects”, due to an unknown and unknowable absolute force, is
the clue to the understanding of all development: cosmic as well as biological. It
should be noted that Spencer published his idea of the evolution of biological
species before Darwin and the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace.
Spencer at that time thought that evolution was caused by the
inheritance of acquired characteristics, whereas Darwin and Wallace attributed it to
natural selection. Spencer later accepted the theory of the natural selection and the
biological evolution. Himself coined the phrase “survival of the fittest”.
8. Sociology and social
philosophy
Spencer believed that the fundamental sociological classification was
between:
•military societies, in which cooperation was secured by force,
•industrial societies, in which cooperation was voluntary and
spontaneous.
Social
Statics
Spencer first derived his general evolutionary
scheme from reflection on human society as a
process of increasing “individuation.” He saw
human societies as evolving by means of increasing
division of labour from undifferentiated hordes into
complex civilizations.
Evolution is not the only biological conception Spencer applied in his sociological
theories. He made a detailed comparison between animal organisms and human
societies. In both he found a regulative system, a sustaining system and a
distribution system. The great difference between an animal and a social
organism, he said, is that, whereas in the former there is one consciousness
relating to the whole, in the latter consciousness exists in each member
only.
Society exists for the benefit of its members and not vice versa.
The individualism is the key of Spencer’s work. His contrast between military and
industrial societies is drawn between despotism that is primitive and bad, and
individualism, which is civilized and good. He believed that in the society the
order achieved, though planned by no one, is delicately adjusted to the needs
of all parties.
9. Metaphysics
•In his emphasis on variety and differentiation, Spencer was
unwittingly repeating, in a 19th
-century idiom, the metaphysics
of liberalism that Spinoza and Leibniz had adumbrated in the
17th
century.
•Spinoza had maintained that “God or Nature” has an infinity
of attributes in which every possibility is actualized, and
Leibniz had argued that the perfection of God is exhibited in
the infinite variety of the universe.
•Though neither of them believed that time is an ultimate
feature of reality, Spencer combined a belief in the reality of
time with one in the eventual actualization of every possible
variety of being.
•He thus gave metaphysical support to the liberal principle of
variety, according to which a differentiated and developing
society is preferable to a monotonous and static one.
10. The educational child
“The education of the child must accord both in mode and arrangement with the education of mankind
considered historically. In other words the genesis of knowledge in the individual must follow the same course
as the genesis of knowledge in the race. In stictness, this principles may be considered as already expressed by
implication; since both, being processes of evolution, must conform to those same general laws of evolution above
instead on, and must therefore agree with each other. […]
… one of the conclusions to which such an inquiry leads, is, that in each
branch of instruction we should proced from the empirical to the rational. During human progress every
sciences is evolved out of its corresponding art. It results from the necessity we are under, both individually and
as a race, of reaching the abstract by way of the concrete, that there must be practice and an accruing
experience with its empirical generalisation, before there can be science. Science is organized knowledge; and
before knowledge can be organized, some of it must be possessed. Every study, therefore, should have a purely
experimental introduction; and only after an ample fund of observations has been accumulated, should reasoning
begin. As illustrative applications of this rule, we may instance the modern course of placing grammar, not
before a language, but after it; or the ordinary custom of prefacing respective by practical drawing. By and by
further applications of it will be indicated.
…. A second corollary from the forgoing general pinciple, and one which cannot be too
strenuously insisted on, is, that in education the process of self-development should be encoraged to the
uttermost. Children should be led to make their on investigations, and to draw their own inferences. They
should be told as little as possible, and induced to discover as much as possible.”
11. Nazism, Eugenics, Fascism &
ImperialismSocial Darwinism was predominantly found in laissez-faire societies where the prevailing view
was that of an individualist order to society.
Social Darwinism supposed that human progress would generally favor the most
individualistic races, which were those perceived as stronger.
A different form of social Darwinism was part of the ideological foundations of Nazism
and other fascist movements. This form did not envision survival of the fittest within an
individualist order of society, but rather advocated a type of racial and national struggle
where the state directed human breeding through eugenics. Names such as “Darwinian
collectivism” or “Reform Darwinism” have been suggested to describe these views, in
order to differentiate them from the individualist type of social Darwinism.
Some pre – twentieth century doctrines subsequently described as social Darwinism
appear to anticipate state imposed eugenics and the race doctrines of Nazism.
Critics have frequently linked evolution, Charles Darwin and social Darwinism with racialism,
nationalism, imperialism and eugenics, contending that social Darwinism became one of the
pillars of fascism and Nazi ideology, and that the consequences of the application of policies
of “survival of the fittest” by Nazi Germany eventually created a very strong backlash against
the theory.
Social Darwinism has often been linked to nationalism and imperialism. During the
age of New Imperialism, the concepts of evolution justified the exploitation of “lesser breeds
without the law” by “superior races”. To elitists, strong nations were composed of
white people who were successful at expanding their empires, and as such, these
strong nations would survive in the struggle for dominance. With this attitude,
Europeans, except for Christian missionaries, seldom adopted the customs and languages
of local people under their empires.
12. • A global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945,
though related conflicts began earlier that
involved the vast majority of the world’s
nations – including all of the great powers –
eventually forming two opposing military
alliances: the Allies and the Axis.
• It was the most widespread war in history,
directly involving more than 100 million people
from over 30 countries. In a state of "total war",
the major participants threw their entire
economic, industrial and scientific
capabilities behind the war effort, erasing
the distinction between civilian and military
resources.
• Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including
the Holocaust (during which approximately 11
million people were killed) and the strategic
bombing of industrial and population centres
(during which approximately one million people
were killed, including the use of two nuclear
weapons in combat), it resulted in an estimated
50 million to 85 million fatalities. These events
made World War II the deadliest conflict in
human history.
II World
War
Causes:
• Hitler’s claims of conquest
• Weakness of democratic Western
States (UK, France)
• URSS’ responsibility (Molotov –
Ribbentrop pact)
• Hitler – Mussolini alliance
13. The Sparks:
• Germany invades all the Western regions of Poland (including Warsaw)
• URSS occupies the eastern regions of Poland and the Baltic republics
The beginning:
September 3,1939 France and UK declare war to Germany.
World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world.
The United Nations (UN) was established to foster international co-
operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers - the
United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, and France -
became the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. The
Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the
stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the
influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonization of Asia
and Africa began.
Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards
economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged
as an effort to end pre-war enmities and to create a common identity.
