Darwin and Marx essays

Darwin and Marx essays After the French Revolution, the second half of the nineteenth century was dominated by science and industrialization. New ideas began to form in the progressively secular culture. Realism, positivism, Darwinism, Marxism, and liberalism all reacted against romantic, religious, and metaphysical interpretations of nature and society and focused on the empirical world (Perry, pg. 585). Darwinism and Marxism were the main points discussed during this time. Darwinism, named after Charles Darwin (1809-1882), was one of the most important advances in our scientific view of the world. Darwin did for biology what Newton had done for physics: he made it an objective science based on general principles (Perry, pg. 592). He formulated most of his ideas during a five-year expedition to the South Pacific. His theories on evolution were taken from similarities he observed between extinct and living species. His evolutionary ideas were placed into two of his books, the Origin of Species and the Descent of Man. Darwins theory convinced many on how there is a large diversity between different species in a short time period. Another one of his key ideas was adopted from the Malthusian idea that reproduction by a species is quicker than the food that particular species consumes. Finally, all of his ideas formed one main concept, explained in four simple words: survival of the fittest. Like most other radical thinkers before him, Darwins theor ies were contrary to Christian beliefs. One theologian declared, If the Darwinian theory is true, Genesis is a lie, the whole framework of the book of life falls to pieces, and the revelation of God as man, as we Christians know it, is a delusion and a snare. (Perry, pg. 593). Darwinism changed peoples way of looking at religion as a form of reason and transformed it into the faith that it is today. Marxism, named after Karl Marx (181...