1) What was the key Darwin needed to explain how one species evolved from
another? (refer to class notes)
The key Darwin was the concept of natural selection. He needed to understand that due to a
number of selective forces and pressures. He needed to understand that animals do not simply
change their traits to adapt to their surroundings like the use and disuse theory. Instead, he
needed to understand that species can have varied traits and some may have traits favored in a
specific environment. Thus as these favored traits are passed down in generations, species
evolve.
2) What was the selective force in nature that Darwin used to develop his
theory? (refer to class notes)
The selective force in nature is what Malthus described as carrying capacity. When there are
more individuals than resources that can provide for them, environmental pressures arise.
Knowing this, Darwin was able to describe the pressures that can result in competition and the
favorable traits that have an advantage or fitness that allows their traits to be passed onto future
generations.
3) What important moment occurred after the debate at the Advancement
of Science meeting on June 1860 between Huxley and Wilberforce?
Darwin praised Huxley for defending his theory. The church took a negative blow in authority,
and this allowed scientific intellectuals to start taking the lead. This opened a gap for religious
thinking and scientific thinking.
4) How did German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, react to Darwin’s theory?
Friedrich Nietzsche had an excited reaction stating, “by breaking the faith in God, one breaks
the whole.” In 1882, he declared “God is dead.” He believed that Darwin’s theory tore down
Europe’s old religious system of God given authority and morality. He challenged many German
intellectuals to abandon their traditional Christian values and pushed people to question what
the structure of any system with moral values is without religion.
5) How was Darwin’s theory of natural selection used negatively during the
Great War of 1914 by German Intellectuals?
Members of the German high command believed that if Germany was beaten, it showed they
were on the wrong evolutionary line and deserved to be beaten, but if they won, it meant that
the rest of the world was on the wrong evolutionary path and should be stopped for the sake of
mankind. In essence, if Germany won, they believed the rest of the world should be destroyed
as unfit, similarly to the means of natural selection. Darwin’s ideas were tainted by militarism
and atrocities of war.
