¡darwinistas!: The Construction of Evolutionary Thought in Nineteenth Century Argentina (History of Science and Medicine Library / Scientific and Lea)

Treatments of the reception of Darwinism have focused on Western Europe and North America. This book turns to Argentina in the second half of the nineteenth century. Having hosted Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle, Argentina had a claim to being the cradle of Darwinism. Such claims, together with other cultural currents placed the appropriation or rejection of Darwinism at the center of the struggle to articulate the national identity of the emerging Argentine Republic. Two chapters of original historiography are followed by eight chapters of new English translations of primary sources from the Argentine reception of Darwinism, including texts (by Domingo Sarmiento, Eduardo Holmberg, and others) well known to students of Latin American letters, but never before published in English. Contents 6 Acknowledgements 8 Introduction 10 Chapter One Darwin in Argentina 20 1. The Crisis of 1874 25 2. Darwinism Ascendant 42 3. Darwinism in Disarray 53 Chapter Two Conflicting Systems 66 1. Progress or Regress? Evolution or Extinction? 66 2. Unity or Diversity? 73 3. Natural Selection vs. Aesthetic Selection 77 4. The Question of Spiritualism. The Philosophical Crisis of Darwinism 91 Conclusion 101 Chapter Three Francisco Javier Muñiz (1795–1871) 104 The Muñi-Felis Bonaerensis (1845) 110 Chapter Four Hermann Burmeister (1807–1891) 116 History of Creation (1870) 121 Chapter Five Francisco P. Moreno (1852–1919) 132 Letter to His Father, Francisco F. Moreno (1875) 136 Letter to His Father, Francisco F. Moreno (1875) 138 Chapter Six Domingo F. Sarmiento (1811–1888) 144 Sheep Growing. Letter to the Editor of The Boston Daily Advertiser, September 19, 1865 149 Lecture on Darwin (1882) 152 Chapter Seven Eduardo Holmberg (1852–1937) 180 A Struggle between Two Parties (1875) 185 Charles Robert Darwin (1882) 202 Chapter Eight Florentino Ameghino (1854–1911) 214 Phylogeny—The Principles of Transformationist Classification Based on Natural Laws and Mathematical Proportions (1884) 219 Vision and Reality (Allegory for Phylogeny, 1889) 229 Chapter Nine José Ingenieros (1877–1925) 238 Simulation in the Struggle for Life (1900) 242 On the Inferior Races (1905) 249 Chapter Ten Carlos Octavio Bunge (1875–1918) 256 Travels through My Lineage (1908) 260 Bibliography 280 Index 294 Darwin in Argentina Conflicting Systems Francisco Javier Muniz (1795-1871) Hermann Burmeister (1807-1891) Francisco P. Moreno (1852-1919) Domingo F. Sarmiento (1811-1888) Eduardo Holmberg (1852-1937) Florentino Ameghino (1854-1911) Jose Ingenieros (1877-1925) Carlos Octavio Bunge (1875-1918). After Setting Out The Intellectual, Cultural, And Political Context Of The Reception Of Darwinism In Argentina, This Book Presents Original Translations Of Central Texts In That Reception, Most Of Which Have Never Before Appeared In English.