From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics and Racism in Germany - Brossura

Weikart, R.

Brossura

ISBN 10: 140397201X ISBN 13: 9781403972019

Casa editrice: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006

Riassunto

In this work, Richard Weikart explains the revolutionary impact Darwinism had on ethics and morality. He demonstrates that many leading Darwinian biologists and social thinkers in Germany believed that Darwinism overturned traditional Judeo-Christian and Enlightenment ethics, especially the view that human life is sacred. Many of these thinkers supported moral relativism, yet simultaneously exalted evolutionary 'fitness' (especially intelligence and health) to the highest arbiter of morality. Darwinism played a key role in the rise not only of eugenics, but also euthanasia, infanticide, abortion and racial extermination. This was especially important in Germany, since Hitler built his view of ethics on Darwinian principles, not on nihilism.

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Informazioni sugli autori

RICHARD WEIKART is an Associate Professor of Modern European History, California State University, Stanislaus, USA. He has had two previous books published, including <em>Socialist Darwinism: Evolution in German Socialist Thought from Marx to Bernstein</em> (1999), as well as articles in <em>German Studies Review</em>, <em>Journal of the History of Ideas, Isis, European Legacy</em> and <em>History of European Ideas</em>.<div><br></div>

RICHARD WEIKART is an Associate Professor of Modern European History, California State University, Stanislaus, USA. He has had two previous books published, including Socialist Darwinism: Evolution in German Socialist Thought from Marx to Bernstein (1999), as well as articles in German Studies Review, Journal of the History of Ideas, Isis, European Legacy and History of European Ideas.

Dalla quarta di copertina

"This is one of the finest examples of intellectual history I have seen in a long while. It is insightful, thoughtful, informative, and highly readable. Rather than simply connecting the dots, so to speak, the author provides a sophisticated and nuanced examination of numerous German thinkers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries who were influenced to one degree or another by Darwinist naturalism and their ideas, subtly drawing both distinctions and similarities and in the process telling a rich and colorful story. "
-- Ian Dowbiggin, Professor of History at the University of Prince Edward Island and author ofA Merciful End: The Euthanasia Movement in Modern America

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Palgrave Macmillan
• Data di pubblicazione: 2006
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 140397201X
• ISBN 13: 9781403972019
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 328
• Contatto del produttore: Springer Nature Customer Service Center GmbH; ProductSafety@springernature.com; ; Europaplatz 3,69115 Heidelberg, Germany; Heidelberg; 69115; Germania