Friday, March 6
Awesome Thesis about Darwin
Darwin's theory of evolution led way to social darwinism, as well as the idea of White Man's Burden, which justified Imperialism as a socially and politically acceptable practice for European powers although it was in fact a way to control foreign lands and their people, and overtake their goods and resources for powerful European countries.
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This is a strong statement that seems like it will lead your paper in the direction of talking about the justifications of imperialism, you might want to add in a counter-argument somewhere to strengthen the argument you are making.
ReplyDeleteThis is cool. Uhmmm
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: I might not understand Darwin's theory or social darwinism enough to make this critique but it might help...
I'm wondering why you use the conjunction "although," because it seems as if the whole survival-of-the-fittest idea would encourage the exploitation of one people by another. You seem to say that social darwinism justifies the altruistic face of imperialism, and that the fact of the matter is the power-hunger that drove imperialists. However, I think social darwinism can easily justify power-hunger and greed, perhaps more than it justifies altruism. Which means that the altruistic excuse for imperialism stems from something other than Darwin's theory.
I could be completely wrong though...
Counterargument needed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with daisy (and Matt there is a counter argument you just have to read carefully). Maybe you should start with although to make it more clear though.
ReplyDeleteI don't know that much about Darwin, but from what I do know his theory involves the survival of the fittest. I would think that his theory justifies what Imperialists did, because they felt they needed to be the best and come out on top to survive.
I think the point you are trying to make is this:
Although the White Man's Burden was said to justify the imperialistic ventures of major European powers during the 1880's, it was only a way for them to control other countries and people, and take over their natural resources.
I do see this argument as working, but I don't understand how Darwin is connected (although that might be because I don't know that much about him) If you can connect Darwin though, I can see it working and forming a very strong paper.
This definitely has the potential to be an extremely interesting paper based on your thesis! My only suggestion would be to talk a little bit more about how Darwin relates to imperialism.
ReplyDelete