Alfred Russel Wallace, William Rathbone Greg and the Origin of Social Darwinism

Abstract

The contribution of Alfred Russel Wallace and William Rathbone Greg to the debate on the possibility of application of the law of natural selection to human society and the subsequent emergence of social Darwinism with dramatic consequences in the political life of the West has been largely neglected by historians of science despite the interest of both scholars in the practical political utility of the theory of Charles Darwin.