Description

Was the theory of natural selection considered a description of Victorian society or a vision of how society ought to be?Explain

Gregory Raddick argues that the theory of natural selection is a product of Victorian society, in the sense that Darwin took aspects of industrial capitalism and presupposed them onto nature. Weaker animals and plants die and give way to stronger animals and plants much in the way that weaker businesses fail and stronger businesses succeed. Raddick is interested in whether the theory of natural selection is separate from its history and if in anyway this undermines the validity of the theory of natural selection.

Darwin’s Metaphor : Nature’s place in Victorian culture

Book by Robert M Young 1985 Optional