Topic > Three Visions of Social Darwinism - 1702

The concept of Social Darwinism was a widely accepted theory in the nineteenth century. Various intellectual and political figures from each side of the political spectrum grasped the theory and interpreted it in various ways. In this article we will discuss three different nineteenth-century thinkers and their conception of Social Darwinism. The conservative Heinrich von Treitschke and the liberal Herbert Spencer have both argued for the usefulness of competition between people on a global scale. Anarchist Peter Kropotkin refuted the belief in constant competition between members of the same species and emphasized mutual aid. Heinrich von Treitschke's defense of Social Darwinism was a direct result of his vision of the state and the nation. He believed that only courageous nations could stand the test of time and argued that nations that did not display their power would eventually be preyed upon and preyed upon. Treitschke makes this clear when he states: “The story has absolutely masculine features; it is not for sentimental natures or for women. Only courageous nations have a secure existence, a future, a development; weak and cowardly nations go to the wall, and rightly so." (Treitschke, 11). He believed that competition between nations reflected the superiority of the victor. Treitschke stated that there were two main functions of the state, the second is for the state to wage war and is very important to understand his defense of Social Darwinism. He believed that only through war would a great nation succeed. In his thinking, he takes the idea of ​​competition between animals advocated by Darwin and places it on a global scale in which nations compete for superiority. Competition between nations was the only way to... at the heart of the... paper society. He gave the examples of trade unions, voluntary associations and grassroots societies. For Heinrich von Treitschke, conflict was necessary to forge great states and improve society. Historical progress was the result of war, which eliminated the weak from society. Along the same lines, Herbert Spencer believed that war was a force that advanced society and purified inferior and weak peoples from the globe. Peter Kropotkin rejected these interpretations of Darwin's theory and argued that sociability and cooperation were the true promoters of all species. Each topic reflected the broader worldview these men had due to their respective ideologies. Treitschke based his view on the tradition of war, Spencer did much the same thing but refuted war due to its need for subordination, and Kropotkin focused on the inherent cooperation of individual species..