Asses the social and political influences on the historical development of theories of evolution. (Include as?

[martha11]

For biology we need to answer the above question. I know what Wallace, Darwin and Lamarck did to contribute to the theory of evolution, but how does it relate to the social and political infulences on the historical development of the theory of evolution?

[jonmcn49]

These men were a product of their time; both the social and political aspects of their time. Aside from that, the theory of evolution by natural selection stands on it's scientific merits, despite any time that it is in. Both influences were marginal. Did Either Newton's theory of gravity or Einsteins refinement of it depend on the politics or society they lived in? Not much.

[timeponderer]

Well the social/economic ideas of Thomas Malthus were an integral factor in both Darwin and Wallace's realizations that evolution worked by Natural Selection. Both of them happened to read Malthus' Principle of Population which stated, essentially, that the size of the human population was kept in check by 'natural' factors, such as starvation, disease and war.

Thus Darwin and Wallace were both conscious of the fact that more individuals are born of a species than reproduce, and that there was a "struggle for existance". And from there, given that traits are inherited, it is obvious that natural selection could have a strong statistical influence on the frequency of traits within the population.

From Malthus, you can make connections back to Adam Smiths "Wealth of Nations" which was the birth of capitalism and free market economics. The principle that systems left to their own devices find their own balance.

Many scientific realisations are influenced by thinking outside of science at the time, as ideas people may have otherwise never though of come together.