The core aim of this interdisciplinary research is to provide a critical analysis of the influence of Darwinism and Social Darwinism on a sample of modern Chinese writings. To achieve these aims, the researcher uses a range of both Chinese and English sources to explore their close affinities with Darwinism and Social Darwinism. Following this course, the research examines how Darwinian thought was introduced to the Chinese reading public in the late nineteenth century through a translation of Thomas Henry Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics by Yen Fu, and the subsequent impact of this work and Darwinian thought in general on seven literary and political figures: K'ang Yu-wei, Liang Qichao, Lu Xun, Hu Shih, Chen Duxiu, Sun Yat-sen and Mao Zedong. From an historical perspective, the Opium Wars and imperial invasions of China in the nineteenth century severely weakened the country’s political, economic, diplomatic, military, educational and cultural power. For these reasons and others, from 1840 to 1949, China experienced a tumultuous period of social and political transformation, which has eventually led to her revival in the twenty-first century. It will be seen that each of the literary figures examined here used evolutionary thought to justify revolution at various points on China’s long march to modernity. Progressive Darwinian ideas sharply contrasted with the old Confucian values upheld within Chinese communities. Nevertheless, the faults and weaknesses of Qing China awakened many pioneering revolutionaries who sought to reverse the status quo by initiating a series of radical reforms and revolutionary movements. Many within the Chinese intellectual elite looked to the tide of change and progress coming from the West, which they hoped might replace the recent historical stagnation and Confucian dogma embedded in Chinese culture and society. In this vein, many of these pioneering revolutionaries set about driving the historical transformation of China by selecting, translating and interpreting Darwinian ideas in their own writings. From Yen Fu in the nineteenth century to Mao Zedong in the twentieth century, evolutionary thought went hand in hand with China’s modernization.

Name: Jitka Hanušová School: Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, Department: Institute of Linguistics and Finno-Ugric Studies Title: Charles Darwin and darwinism in Finnish Literature Supervisor: Mgr. Jan Dlask, Ph.D. Number of pagess: 68 Nubmber of characters: 118 580 Keywords: Charles Darwin, darwinism, social darwinism, Finnish Literature, race, heredity, social class This diploma deals with evolutionary theories of Charles Darwin and examines its arrival to Finland, its spreading there and mentions the first references in the Finnish periodicals, public and especially in literature during 1860-1920. The topic is viewed through a cultural-historical context which consists of influences of evolutionary theories, social darwinism, racial theories, heredity research, or distinctions between social classes. The special emphasis is placed on reflections of the main aspects of this context in the Finnish literature, mainly in the works of Minna Canth, T. Pakkala, L. Onerva, Toivo Tarvas and Maila Talvio.

In 1901 the Qing regime, in power 1644-1911, took wide-ranging measures to reform the Chinese Empire. Fundamental changes were carried out within the field of education, resulting in the completion of China’s first modern educational system in 1904. Modern schools mushroomed across China and modern textbooks introducing non-traditional knowledge became common reading in the classrooms. Modern geography textbooks informed schoolchildren about the circumstances within the Empire and, to some extent, about the conditions in foreign countries. Thus these textbooks gave them an idea of their own nation in relation to the rest of the world.   The thesis examines the images of the inhabitants of the multiethnic Qing Empire, as encountered in a wide range of textbooks and other teaching materials, on the school subject of geography, used at various institutions of modern learning during the closing years of the Qing era. The focus is on the Han Chinese majority of China Proper (i.e. the eighteen provinces), although the images of the other major ethnicities of the Qing Empire are also examined, as well as the peoples of neighbouring Korea and Japan. This study highlights the extent to which the late Qing era was influenced by Japanese approaches towards reforms and modernization, especially in the field of education. During the process of introducing modern school geography in China, Chinese textbook compilers largely relied on Japanese sources on geography, thereby facing a Japanese, nationalistic and colonial discourse, which implied that Japan, as the most civilized nation in the East, was also in her right to dominate the region. Although Chinese educationalists hardly accepted Japan’s self-proclaimed position as the rightful leader of Asia, they were nevertheless influenced by Japanese descriptions of the continent and its peoples.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:19:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Kun Young Yu.pdf: 738962 bytes, checksum: 7f8ae8dc1a8ea3f259e76465208eef4c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-11-05 / The present research aims at analyzing the Korean bioethics through the analysis of the historical, social, cultural and philosophical elements of the country to understand how such elements influenced in the constitution of bioethics in that country. The work is started through the study of scandal perpetrated by the major scientist of the country in the area, Professor Hwang Woo Suk, and by analyzing the social and political impact of such event we learnt about the values that guided the local bioethics, which are pragmatism and its strong social appeal. We will see how this science was skillfully handled for propagandistic purposes by the local government, upon attribution of a patriotic character to its development and the complicity with which an entire nation embraced this "national project" under which they placed expectations much beyond the medical benefits initially targeted. In the analysis of the factors that participated in the formation of this unique bioethics, we will analyze the association of the bioethical researches to the economic plans of the government, the influence of the several social and philosophical elements such as cultural hedonism, the local culture of pragmatic and empiric nature, the Silhak, the economic influence of the research for the community capitalism practiced in the country, and the patriotic appeal attributed thereto by the historical factors and principles such as Social Darwinism. The analysis of the aforementioned elements helps us to understand how a country so advanced in the researches on the biotechnology area, has a bioethics that is so weak in ethical content, that in last analysis it was responsible for the outbreak of the fraud in the stem cells cloning research / A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo analisar a bioética coreana através da análise dos elementos históricos, sociais, culturais e filosóficos do país para entender como tais elementos influíram na constituição da bioética naquele país. Inicia-se o trabalho através do estudo do escândalo protagonizado pelo maior cientista do país na área, o Professor Hwang Woo Suk, e analisando a implicação social e política de tal evento, aprendemos sobre os valores que nortearam a bioética local, que são o pragmatismo e o seu forte apelo social. Veremos como esta ciência foi habilmente manuseada para fins propagandísticos pelo governo local, ao atribuir caráter patriótico ao seu desenvolvimento e a cumplicidade com que toda uma nação abraçou este projeto nacional sob o qual depositaram anseios muito além dos benefícios médicos que se propunha alcançar inicialmente. Na análise dos fatores que participaram na formação desta bioética singular analisaremos a vinculação das pesquisas bioéticas aos planos econômicos do governo, a influência de vários elementos sociais e filosóficos como o hedonismo cultural, a filosofia local de cunho pragmática e empírica, o Silhak, a influência econômica das pesquisas pelo capitalismo comunitário praticado no país, e o apelo patriótico atribuído ao mesmo pelos fatores históricos e princípios como o Darwinismo Social. A análise dos elementos mencionados acima ajuda a entender como um país tão avançado nas pesquisas na área de biotecnologia, possui uma bioética tão fraca em conteúdo ético, que em última análise foi a responsável pela eclosão da fraude nas pesquisas de clonagem de células-tronco

Le processus sélectif est-il nié, persistant ou dialectiquement réalisé dans la civilisation ? De ce problème, deux thèses générales se dégagent : (1) celle de l’épuisement de la sélection naturelle, la société humaine témoignant d’une véritable émancipation vitale et (2) celle d’un report des pressions de sélection, le système de contraintes sélectives demeurant effectif. En fait, cette interrogation se trouve esquissée dès l’« anthropologie » de Charles Darwin (1871), sujette encore à débats, notamment sur l’existence du darwinisme social de ce dernier, forme, justement, de report des pressions de sélection. Face à la thèse de l’incohérence doctrinale de cette « anthropologie », qui légitime malgré elle qu’on fasse tout dire de Darwin, on proposera une cohérence articulée autour du concept de sympathie et des effets combinés de la sélection, de la culture et de l’habitude. Ensuite, il s’agira de proposer une théorie de l’émancipation vitale, mêlant report des pressions de sélection et émancipation par procès ‘technosymbiotique’, néologisme au lien fort avec la cultural niche construction (Odling-Smee). Prendre la civilisation comme une niche écologique, la culture comme un paramètre, résoudra une bonne part des problèmes théoriques et de ce dualisme identitaire qu’on retrouve si souvent dans notre approche de l’homme et de sa société. La réflexion sur la civilisation nous conduira à nous interroger sur le biotope économique, comme marque essentielle et originale de notre niche écologique. Notre émancipation biologique côtoie ainsi le maintien du système de contrainte sélectionniste, dans un biotope, dès lors, de plus en plus biomimétique / Is the selective process irrelevant, does it persist, or is it dialectically achieved in civilization? Two general theses arise from this question: (1) either the progressive extinction of natural selection, human society thus witnessing a genuine vital emancipation or (2) the persistence of selection pressures, the system of selective constraints thus remaining effective. In fact, this question was outlined in 1871 with Charles Darwin’s “anthropology”; his anthropology and notably his social Darwinism, a form of displacement of selection pressures continue to be debated today. Confronted with the thesis of the doctrinal inconsistency of this “anthropology” which allows Darwin’s words to be interpreted at will, we shall put forward a form of coherence based on the concept of sympathy and the combined effects of selection, culture and habits. We shall then put forward a theory of vital emancipation that combines the persistence of selection pressures and emancipation via a technosymbiotic process, a neologism similar to cultural niche construction (Odling-Smee). Considering civilization as an ecological niche and culture as a parameter will solve most theoretical problems, notably related to the identity dualism associated with a conventional approach to man and society. Our reflection on civilization will lead us to focus on and investigate into the economic biotope understood as an essential and specific feature of our ecological niche. Following this approach, man’s biological emancipation coexists with a system of selectionist constraint in a biotope that is, as a consequence, increasingly biomimetic

<p>My thesis examines how eugenicist and psychologist Robert M. Yerkes’ experimental intelligence research helped to situate the non-human primate as the ideal research subject for human betterment research in the twentieth century U.S. Yerkes believed that the primate was the ideal research subject to address questions of human betterment and social welfare, specifically best to create methods of evaluating the imagined threat of intellectual disability. While Yerkes has been studied extensively in the history of psychology, primatology, and eugenics, rarely have his separate contributions to these fields been placed in conversation with one another. Placing the primate at the center of Yerkes’ work allows for all three fields to engage with one another in a new perspective. By analyzing Yerkes’ publications about the Multiple-Choice Experiment within the context of the American eugenics’ movement, we can see how the primate came to hold a central position in U.S. scientific research, the advancement of human welfare and betterment, and as a means of defining what it means to be human. This story offers a glimpse into this longer process of how the primate came to occupy this position, but even a glimpse offers historians of the American eugenics’ movement new questions. What was the role of the non-human animal in the formulation of American eugenic theories? How have we historically used the natural world in our attempts to separate ourselves from it? And can we truly reconcile a history with eugenics if we continue to ignore the role of animals within it, they who today exist unquestionably within the status of the sub-human?</p>

This research surveys the Swiss missionaries' management of social transformation in South Africa (1873-1976). It has as its major focus the management of schools, hospitals and churches as the primary institutions of social change in society. The researcher's realisation that more often than not, the changes brought to bear on proselytes by the change forces take time to manifest themselves vividly induced him to extend the scope to include the dawn of the new political dispensation in this country in 1994. This need not surprise the readership as the triadic approach, which is synonymous with historial analyses compels researchers to avail readers of what happened in the past, present as well as what is likely to occur in future. In other words, readers will encounter the ethnic nationalism engineered by different change agents in this country and the repercussions thereof, and the schism within the Swiss Mission in South Africa/Evangelical Presbyterian Church in South Africa that started in 1989 and became reality by 1991. Finally, the thesis also appraises readers of what should be done in periods of rapid social change. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (History of Education)

Biologische Evolutionstheorie erklärt die sukzessive Veränderung von Arten durch Vererbung und wurde erstmalig von Charles Darwin umfassend formuliert. Die Rezeption durch die Genderforschung umfasst diskursanalytische Studien und die Methodenkritik feministischer Biowissenschaftler_innen. Konkrete Bezugspunkte stellen dabei die sexuelle Selektion, naturalisierende Thesen der Soziobiologie und der evolutionären Psychologie sowie die Rolle des Essentialismus in der Evolutionstheorie Darwins dar.

Biologische Evolutionstheorie erklärt die sukzessive Veränderung von Arten durch Vererbung und wurde erstmalig von Charles Darwin umfassend formuliert. Die Rezeption durch die Genderforschung umfasst diskursanalytische Studien und die Methodenkritik feministischer Biowissenschaftler_innen. Konkrete Bezugspunkte stellen dabei die sexuelle Selektion, naturalisierende Thesen der Soziobiologie und der evolutionären Psychologie sowie die Rolle des Essentialismus in der Evolutionstheorie Darwins dar.

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