Hello, my name is Chandak Sengoopta
and in the spring term of 2021, in this
module on the history and the diverse
social impact of Charles Darwin's theory
of evolution. The story will begin in
Victorian England and the growing
conviction that the human and especially
the English race was bound to advance in
wealth, power and wisdom. And progress
became the watchword in biology as well
especially after the 1859 publication of
Darwin's classic work on the Origin of
species. We shall look at
how Darwin arrived at his conclusions and
why his readers zoomed in on what his
theory might mean for the origin of
humans even though he had not even dealt
with that subject in his book. We shall
see how Darwin's theory came to be used
for all kinds of purposes including the
justification of inequality between
people and races. And we shall also look
at the widespread opposition to the
evolutionary theory especially for the
threat it was supposed to be posing to
religion especially Christianity. So the
impact of Darwin's theory has been
strangely uneven, it has transformed
modern science but it continues to be
opposed to this day by many for
encouraging the spread of immoral
beliefs, the lack of ethics and our
disbelief in any kind of religious faith.
The module therefore should give you a good
idea of what Darwinism is, where it came
from how, it was used to justify
oppression as well as liberation and
what its global position is today.
More broadly, it should enable you to
think of science and its social impact
in historically informed and socially
nuanced ways. Thank you very much for
listening, I hope to see you in January.
