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Hello, when Charles Darwin published his masterpiece on the origin of species by means of natural selection in 1859,

he laid the foundations for a new era in scientific inquiry.

His theory that organisms had involved into their current forms over millions

of years revolutionized biology and is arguably one of the greatest breakthroughs in the history

of science. But the significance of Darwin's thoughts reached beyond the

realm of biology. philosophers, economists and political scientists applied the

concepts of evolution and natural selection to their own fields and in the

second half of the 19th century this gave rise to a school of thought known today as social Darwinism which attempted to understand society by seeing it as a struggle between competing individuals.

Later, it also led to the sides of eugenics,

which sought to control and improve the genetic makeup

of the human population.

Social Darwinism remained influential until the 1930s, but since the mid-20th century the term has largely been a pejorative one.

Today still tainted by its association with the Nazis who used eugenics as ideological justification for the atrocities of the Holocaust.

With me to discuss Social Darwinism R. Adam Cooper, Centennial Professor of Anthropology at the

LSC University of London. Gregory Radick, Professor of History and

and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds, and Charlotte Sleigh, reader in the

history of science at the University of Kent.

Adam Cooper, the term social dowism wasn't widely used until a little after Darwin's death.

Could you explain what it describes?

...