title: Why Darwin was English.
abstract: A 'late developer' argument, common to Psychology and Economic History, can be used to explain cultural innovation. It argues that the 19th century theory of natural selection arose in England and not Germany because of--and not in spite of--England's scientific backwardness. Measured in terms of institutions, communities, and ideas, the relative retardation of English science was precisely what enabled it to adopt German advances in novel ways.
authors.affiliation: University of Colorado at Denver, USA. gfinkels@carbon.cudenver.edu
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Finkelstein
mesh_terms: D005075:Biological Evolution; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D004739:England; D005197:Famous Persons; D005858:Germany; D049672:History, 19th Century; D006801:Humans; D012586:Science / Q000266:history*; D012641:Selection, Genetic