Darwinism, war, and history : the debate over the biology of war from the Origin of the species to the First World War

(publisher-supplied Data) While Much Has Been Written Upon Social Darwinism, The Historical Impact Of Darwinism Upon Theories Of War And Human Aggression Has Been Sadly Neglected. This Book Is The First To Study This Discourse In Depth. It Challenges The Received View That Darwinism Generated Essentially Aggressive And Warlike Social Values And Pugnacious Images Of Humankind. Paul Crook Reconstructs The Influential Discourse Of 'peace Biology', Whose Liberal Vision Was Of A Basically Free Humanity, Not Fettered By Iron Laws Of Biological Necessity Or Governed By Violent Genes. By Exploring A Gamut Of Darwinian Readings Of History And War, Mainly In The English-speaking World To 1919, This Study Throws New Light Upon Militarism, Peace Movements, The Origins Of World War I And British Social Thought. 1. The Darwinian Legacy.--2. The Age Of Spencer And Huxley.--3. Crisis In The West: The Pre-war Generation And The New Biology.-- 4. 'the Natural Decline Of Warfare': Anti-war Evolutionism Prior To 1914.--5. The First Owrld War: Man The Fighting Animal.--6. The Survival Of Peace Biology.--7. Naturalistic Fallacies And Noble Ends.--8. Conclusion. Paul Crook. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 270-297) And Index. This book challenges the received view that Darwinism generated essentially aggressive and warlike social values and pugnacious images of humankind. Paul Crook reconstructs the influential discourse of "peace biology," whose liberal vision was of a basically free humanity, not fettered by iron laws of biological necessity or governed by violent genes. By exploring a gamut of Darwinian readings of history and war, mainly in the English-speaking world prior to 1919, this study throws important new light on militarism, peace movements, the origins of World War I and British social thought. This book examines these issues, tracing the historical debate that raged over the biological causes and effects of war between the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859 and World War l. It reconstructs the theories of war and juman pugnacity of thinkers such as Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer, Walter Bagehot, Alfred Wallace, T. H. Huxley, Karl Pearson, Peter Kroptkin, Jacques Novicow, William McDougall, Peter Chalmers Mitchell and a host of now-forgotten naturalist, biometricians, geneticist, eugenists, physicians, psychologist, professionals and minor savant of the time.