Social Darwinism
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) was the champion of Social Darwinsim in the Late 19th century. Here are some example quotes:
- Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.
- The more specific idea of Evolution now reached is - a change from an indefinite,
incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity,
accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.
- Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity.
- Progress, therefore, is not an accident, but a necessity. Instead of civilization
being artificial, it is part of nature; all of a piece with the development of the embryo
or the unfolding of a flower. The modifications mankind have undergone, and are still undergoing,
result from a law underlying the whole organic creation; and provided the human race continues,
and the constitution of things remains the same, those modifications must end in completeness.
- It cannot but happen that those individuals whose functions are most out of
equilibrium with the modified aggregate of external forces, will be those to die; and that those
will survive whose functions happen to be most nearly in equilibrium with the modified aggregate
of external forces. But this survival of the fittest, implies multiplication of the fittest.
Out of the fittest thus multiplied, there will, as before, be an overthrowing of the
moving equilibrium.
- With a higher moral nature will come a restriction on the multiplication of the inferior.
- We have unmistakable proof that throughout all past time, there has been a ceaseless devouring
of the weak by the strong.
The application of Darwinism to the study of human society, specifically a theory in sociology that individuals or groups achieve advantage over others as the result of genetic or biological superiority.
A theory arising in the late nineteenth century that the laws of evolution, which Charles Darwin had observed in nature, also apply to society. Social Darwinists argued that social progress resulted from conflicts in which the fittest or best adapted individuals, or entire societies, would prevail . It gave rise to the slogan survival of the fittest.
Spencer's view:
The question is - how long does this take? The reality is, governments
tried to engineer this to occur on as fast of timescale as possible.
Throughout human history, wrote the English philosopher Herbert Spencer, society had operated like a jungle, in which only the strongest and best adapted--the
fittest"--survived. Although the process was a cruel one, it promised long-term benefits, for humans were gradually evolving toward a wholly just and peaceful society.