The non-Darwinian revolution : reinterpreting a historical myth
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The non-Darwinian revolution : reinterpreting a historical myth
(Johns Hopkins paperbacks)
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992
- : pbk
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Note
Bibliography: p. 205-231
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Concise and clearly written, "The Non-Darwinian Revolution" sets forth a convincing argument for a reappraisal of Darwin's importance not only for the history of science but for the history of ideas as well. Bowler finds no fault with Darwin's theory, only with the mistaken notion of its revolutionary effect on nineteenth-century thought. Examining the work of such figures as Owen, Spencer, Kelvin, Huxley, Haeckel, and Freud, Bowler discovers a near-universal tendency to accept evolutionism while rejecting Darwin's central premise: natural selection. Instead, leading scientists and thinkers stubbornly clung to the Lamarckian theory of evolution as guided, purposeful development until they were forced by the twentieth century's "rediscovery" of Mendelian law to concede otherwise.
Table of Contents
List of Figures
Preface
Chapter 1. The Myth of the Darwinan Revolution
Chapter 2. Darwin's Originality
Chapter 3. The Impact of the Origin
Chapter 4. Evolutionism Triumphant
Chapter 5. From Darwin to Modern Darwinism
Chapter 6. Human Evolution
Chapter 7. Social Darwinism
Chapter 8. A Cultural Revolution?
Chapter 9. Toward a New Historiography of Evolutionism
Refences
Index
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