Darwin and the popularization of evolution.
Evolution was popularized from 1860 to 1900 in the USA and Britain in a wide variety of media. Here I investigate traditional texts associated with the intellectual elite, including philosophical or scientific monographs, sermons, and published lectures. Evolution was rarely popularized in ways that reflected Darwin's major contribution to biology, his theory of natural selection. This meant that the reading audience more often encountered an alternative to Darwin's naturalistic, non-directional and non-progressive evolutionary perspective. There were at least four different versions of evolution circulating in the period from 1860 to 1900, and only one conformed to Darwin's vision.
Lightman
Bernard
B
309 Bethune College, Department of Humanities, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3. lightman@yorku.ca
D005075:Biological Evolution; D001695:Biology / Q000266:history*; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010684:Philosophy / Q000266:history; D012067:Religion / Q000266:history; D012586:Science / Q000266:history; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D014481:United States