Charles Darwin Essay, Research Paper

Charles Darwin, a 19th century biologist believed in a theory of survival of the fittest. The theory of Darwinism says that whoever is best fit for their surroundings will survive. This theory was used to explain how animals came about and survive and brought about the theory of evolution. Darwin s theory was applied by many 19th Century thinkers to economic, political, and social philosophies of Western Society. An economic ideology related with Social Darwinism is Industrialism. Industrialists relate Industrialism with Social Darwinism by saying the best companies will continue to be the best while the weak companies will eventually die off. They believe the government should not interfere with businesses because it will upset the natural system of weak versus strong. An example of this would be when Andrew Carnegie stole the steel market. He owned all the steel across the world, he was very strong, and therefore he would survive. Anyone who tried to own steel would be bought by Carnegie. Carnegie then charged people who wanted steel an enormous amount. Carnegie truly was the strongest and the only that survived. These relations with economics were believed by many thinkers of the time.

A political ideology involved with Social Darwinism is Imperialism. Imperialists believe nation-states will survive and prosper if they have strong traits. They also believe that weak nation-states will die off because the have weak traits. An example of this would be with India and Ethiopia. Many thinkers applied these political ideologies and their reasoning made sense. A social philosophy involved with social Darwinism is Capitalism. Some Capitalists believed that rich people make money because of their strong traits and poor people are poor because they have weak traits. They think aid should not be provided to the poor because the weak traits of the poor will be passed on to their offspring. Those who were strong would surviveAll in all, Social Darwinism was applied to economic, political, and social philosophies of Western Society. Social Darwinism was not a good ideology for many reasons. Just because something or someone has a weak trait doesn t mean they won t prosper.