Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins
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Over the course of human history, the sciences, and biology in particular, have often been manipulated to cause immense human suffering. For example, biology has been used to justify eugenic programs, forced sterilization, human experimentation, and death camps—all in an attempt to support notions of racial superiority. By investigating the past, the contributors to Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins hope to better prepare us to discern ideological abuse of science when it occurs in the future. Denis R. Alexander and Ronald L. Numbers bring together fourteen experts to examine the varied ways science has been used and abused for nonscientific purposes from the fifteenth century to the present day. Featuring an essay on eugenics from Edward J. Larson and an examination of the progress of evolution by Michael J. Ruse, Biology and Ideology examines uses both benign and sinister, ultimately reminding us that ideological extrapolation continues today. An accessible survey, this collection will enlighten historians of science, their students, practicing scientists, and anyone interested in the relationship between science and culture.
IntroductionDenis R. Alexander and Ronald L. NumbersChapter 1. The cultural authority of natural history in early modern EuropePeter HarrisonChapter 2. Biology, atheism, and politics in eighteenth-century FranceShirley A. RoeChapter 3. Eighteenth-century uses of vitalism in constructing the human sciencesPeter Hanns ReillChapter 4. Biology in the service of natural theology: Paley, Darwin, and the Bridgewater TreatisesJonathan R. TophamChapter 5. Race, empire, and biology before DarwinismSujit SivasundaramChapter 6. Darwin’s choiceNicolaas RupkeChapter 7. Biology and the emergence of the Anglo-American eugenics movementEdward J. LarsonChapter 8. Genetics, eugenics, and the HolocaustPaul WeindlingChapter 9. Darwinism, Marxism, and genetics in the Soviet UnionNikolai KrementsovChapter 10. Evolution and the idea of social ProgressMichael RuseChapter 11. Beauty and the beast? Conceptualizing sex in evolutionary narrativesErika Lorraine MilamChapter 12. Creationism, intelligent design, and modern biologyRonald L. NumbersChapter 13. The ideological uses of evolutionary biology in recent atheist apologeticsAlister E. McGrathAcknowledgments NotesContributorsIndex
