How Charles Darwin Affected the Nineteenth Century - Research Paper Example

?It is without question that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has fundamentally changed the way in which humans interact with one another and defined the universe in which they live. Interestingly, even though this evolution does not specifically reference the nonexistence of a higher power, the rate and extent to which individuals integrated with the theory of evolution ultimately impacted upon the overall level to which a higher power was believed to be responsible for the natural universe. Again, although Darwin is oftentimes cited as the most influential atheists to have lived, Darwin’s theory of evolution does not preclude the existence of a higher power. Rather, it merely specifies that the origin of species that are exhibited upon planet Earth are not the result of a divine creation; rather, they are the result of millions upon millions of years of slow and incremental evolutionary growth. Whereas few scientific theories can fundamentally shift the way in which the broader populace integrates with a particular worldview that they might have, the theory of evolution was profound and singular due to the fact that it influence not only the scientific community but also the average stakeholders within society. As it was realized that divine action has little if any do with the rise and generation of life on planet Earth, a fundamental question was raised by extension; whether or not God existed at all. Ultimately, what is being defined is a situation in which Darwin, although not the preeminent atheists as he is often defined, was the instigator of a theory that has fundamentally shaped and shifted human belief and consciousness concerning the existence of the divine as well as the underlying reasons for morality and the purpose of life. Prior to the theory of evolution, religion, specifically Christianity, had defined the way in which the Western world integrated with any and all forms of science or other field of human knowledge and/or study. One does not need to look far into the past in order to find situations in which early scientists discoveries were challenged by the authority of the church. Galileo for instance had his very life threatened for producing scientific research that went against the teachings that the church held to be true (Okasha & Paternotte 1131). The same can be said with regards to Copernicus and his population and theory that the earth itself was not the center of the universe. In effect, a handful of situations in which traditional interpretations of the divine and the means by which the Bible stood as the supreme definition of all that is good, holy, correct and true can be found. Returning to the issue of how Darwin and his theory of evolution contributed to a fundamental shift with regards to how humans defined the world around them, it can be said that the theory of evolution provided an alternative to the one dimensional view that all morality, science, and necessary knowledge for life was presented within the Bible and within a belief in an omnipotence and interactive godhead. Accordingly, the first and most prominent impact that Darwin’s theory of evolution had was with regards to the explosion of atheism and agnosticism that such a theory sparked. Without a primal cause for the universe and/or the life that is exhibited on earth, individuals throughout society, governments, the education system, and other authoritative positions began to question the need for a higher power at all. This questioning, higher power ultimately began to erode some of the fundamental interpretations that humanity had attributed to religion and God since the beginning of time. If the natural world could indeed be defined based upon its component parts and the evolutionary process alone, and the need for God, or a God head, was necessarily reduced; if indeed evidence whatsoever. Moreover, traditional interpretations of morality had previously been based upon the fact that morality was “moral” due to the fact that it was instituted by God and recorded in both the old and the New Testament. However, as individuals began to integrate with a further level of atheism and a disbelief in the fact that God either cared for existed, the definitions of morality and what constituted their interpretation was also challenged (Depaepe et al. 60). Thus far, the analysis has been concentric upon answering the question of how Darwin’s theory of evolution has fundamentally impacted upon a human and personal interpretation of the existence and need for God. However, in examining this from a systemic and/or political point of view, the impact of Darwinism upon the 19th century was perhaps even more profound. As a religious individuals became more and more convinced that there was an all out assault on religion and God within science and society, a reactionary level of fervor soon developed. One does not need to perform exhaustive historical analysis of the late 18th century to realize that this was a tumultuous period of time in which a variety of social causes leveraged a religious fervor as a means of battling the atheists and agnostics elements that threatened to consume society and usher in what they believed to be the end of times (Jan 153). From the opposite perspective, the impact of atheism and Darwinism can be definitively understood to have impacted upon the growth and development of the pseudoscience of eugenics and the belief that biological life could be perfected via greeting and cultural experimentation. Naturally, the impacts of eugenics and the belief that proper breathing could affect a type of master race were fully leverage in the 20th century with respect to the rise of national Socialism and many of the far right movements that took place within Europe. However, even though this did not take place during the 19th century, Sir Francis Galton the father of eugenics, promoting his theory within the latter half of the 19th century (Jacyna 3486). Another powerful means for development that was realized during the same period of time was with regards to Karl Marx and his Communist Manifesto. Although it is true that Karl Marx’s seminal work, The Communist Manifesto, was published fully 10 years before Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, the question is not whether or not Marx was influenced by Darwin; rather, the question is how Karl Marx ideas and postulations concerning the importance of God and/or religion were interpreted in the subsequent years after the theory of evolution began to take shape within Western civilization. Once again, it can definitively be argued that Marx and communism have provided humanity with an almost on reconcilable human toll. Whereas the communism of the 20th century, implemented by such madmen as Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and pull pot, is a far cry from the communism that was referenced in promoted by Karl Marx, these individuals, as well as those that came before them, leverage a level of disdain and disbelief in the divine as a means of furthering their specific goals. In short, it is the belief of this author that the theory of communism would not have been able to achieve such consideration and/or notoriety in either the 19th more the 20th century had not troubled Darwin’s theory of evolution began to be integrated with society. Effectively, Darwin and his theory of evolution, has fundamentally shifted the way in which humanity thanks. Although integration with the theory of evolution was a slow process in which various elements of society railed against, and continue to reel against, the theory itself has an almost universal level of application and acceptance within the scientific and educational communities. Although there continue to be many individuals within more fundamental branches of religion that outright reject the theory of evolution as an effective means of defining the human’s relationship to his/her environment, the impacts elsewhere within the aforementioned fields are relevant and painfully evident. Works Cited Depaepe, Marc, Raf De Bont, and Kristof Dams. "How Darwinism Has Affected Catholic As Well As Non-Catholic Psycho-Pedagogical Constructs In Belgium From The 1870S To The 1930S." Paedagogica Historica 48.1 (2012): 51-66. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Aug. 2013. Jacyna, Stephen. "The Most Important Of All The Organs: Darwin On The Brain." Brain: A Journal Of Neurology 132.12 (2009): 3481-3487. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Aug. 2013. Jan, Steven. "Using Galant Schemata As Evidence For Universal Darwinism." Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 38.2 (2013): 149-168. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Aug. 2013. Okasha, S., and C. Paternotte. "Group Adaptation, Formal Darwinism And Contextual Analysis." Journal Of Evolutionary Biology 25.6 (2012): 1127-1139. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 Aug. 2013. Read More