Social darwinism

Sociological school of the late nineteenth century that extended English naturalist Charles Darwin’s ideas on the evolution of species through natural selection, to the social evolution of humankind, thus confusing biology with sociology. Positing as an absolute the thesis of the survival of the fittest and extending it to the social life of humankind leads to the negation of another tendency in the evolution of nature: solidarity within the species and mutual aid. S.D. is linked to the racial school of anthropology, and stimulates aggressive behavior among people, transforming them from brothers and sisters into enemies and rivals of their own kind. S.D. is an example of anti-humanism (*), since it artificially divides humankind, inciting one group against another, justifying fratricidal wars and various forms of oppression.