Povijesni prilozi, Vol. 27 No. 35, 2008.
Review article
Darwinism and history: evolutionary biology and the study of social dynamics
Tomislav Markus
; Hrvatski institut za povijest
Abstract
The author analyzes modern biological theories, from Darwin’s theory of evolution to socio-biology and evolutionary biology. He emphasizes their significance for social disciplines including historiography. Studies of recent human history from Neolithic domestication to modern industrial societies should be based in the theory of bio-social discontinuity and its two basic tenets. First, humans are animals genetically adapted to life in small communities in wilderness. Second, abrupt social changes in recent history, from Neolithic domestication onwards, have resulted in an increasing gap between human nature and social environment. Anthropogenic problems—wars, environmental destruction, exploitation of people by people, most diseases, boredom, loneliness, most forms of violent behaviour—are results of life in an unnatural environment to which humans are not adapted. The author advocates the significance of evolutionary biology, by analyzing chief anthropogenic problems and the existence of basic human needs: wilderness, community, equality and peace. Darwinist theories argue for human nature as a universal and fixed category that entails biological adaptation to hunter-gatherer life, affected little by cultural changes. The theory of bio-social discontinuity opposes two equally one-sided approaches: the standard model of humanities, which rejects the existence of human nature in favour
of absolute social-historical circumstances, and the standard model of Social Darwinism, which ignores cultural diversity and social influence on human behaviour.
Keywords
Darwinism; history; evolutionary biology; social dynamics
Hrčak ID:
35570
URI
Publication date:
11.12.2008.
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