Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Theory of Natural Selection/Theory of Evolution:

On the Origin of Species (1859)

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

Criticism of Political Economy (1859)

Thought: IDEAS AND BELIEFS

Charles Darwin:
In 1859 two important books were published which changed the way Europeans thought at the time. This was the result of two great thinkers who challenged many of the ideas and beliefs by which Europe had lived for centuries. One these men was Charles Darwin who published On the Origin of Species in 1859. The other was Karl Marx who published his book named Criticism of Political Economy in same year, which later became knows as The Capital. But it was the theory of Darwin which had in impact in Britain, not the book published by Karl Marx. Darwin was not atheist but his work was strictly scientific but it undermined certain traditional notions not essential to Christianism. Befor he published the book he went on a journey to South America first on a ship called HMS Beagle in 1831, specially through the coast of Argentina, in Punta Alta, Bahia Blanca found fossils or remains of mammals. He travelled as far as Santa Fe via Buenos Aires. This voyage took him also to Valparaiso and cross the Andes mountains to reach the forest fossils in Uspallata, in a route that back then joined the town of Uspallata and Villvicencio (mention the memorial for his 200th birthday in Uspallata). He also visited Puente del Inca. He travelled to the Galapagos Islands where he realized that species there were distinct from those on the mainland, for instances some birds with bigger beaks specially finches, with such varying diets as cactus and seeds. He caem to realize that these finches were all descendents of the same lineage. He went as far as Australia and New Zeland and island in the Pacific. He found and broght with him fossils of mammals and other specimens. He spent almost five years until 1836 until his final arrival in London. Back in England he studied how man selects the variations of plants or animals he whishes to perpetuate and discards others such as dogs for instance, the German Sheppard is just a breed, pitbulls and poodles, corgis, same as wild cabbage is the species of plant that includes broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts; carrots, for instance were purple and genetically-engineered modified to make look orange. His ideas were influenced by Thomas Malthus Essay on the Principle of Population in which he explains how population tends to increase in spite of starvation and diseases, meaning how some individuals or sections of pupulation fought for survival. Darwin applied this reasoning to the world of nature. Some individuals struggled for existance, these mammals us are part of a natural selection or that we were selected by nature and somehow evolved while others species died off such as the neanderthal found in Germany a year after the published the book. According to his theory of the Evolution of Man demonstrate how we as humans evolved from a single original form of life. (todays birds are dinosaurs) His theories were rejected by the Church of England, non-conformist and the Catholic Church since Genesis, which is the first book of the Old Testament of the Bible says that In the beginnings of Time Jehovah created the Heavens and the Earth and all Things therein. This time took place in the year 4004 BC. According the Principle of Geology published in 1830 by Charles Lyell demonstrate that this date cannot be taken seriously due to some fossils and earth strata evidence.

But traditional religious views were not the only ones to be challenged during these 30 years. But also the ideas of the new Britain built by the Industrial Revolution. Karl Marx:
During the appearance of this book which was completed done in german language, there were critical views about the middle class in industrial Britain, these Phillistines as Matthew Arnold called them, critised them because of their narrow-minded materialism. He suggested that what needed was a greater state power and more equality and so the state needed to provide more and better education to reduce the gap between the poor and the rich. Another social critic was John Raskin who attack the the type of commercialism of the Industrial Revolution transforming the craftmen into a person who take care of machines and who did not enjoy their work. It was James Miller who defended the traditional or classical view of Laissez faire (leave it alone, no government intervention or interference in private trades) and published his book of Principles of Political Economy in 1948. However, he advocated that the state should supply free education for competition to develop in a more equal terms. But about the distribution of wealth? Should the government intervene through taxes? Karls ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist movement. He published various books during his lifetime, with the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Capital (1867); some of his works were co-written with his friend and fellow German revolutionary socialist, Friedrich Engels. Prime author of the doctrines of Communism. Marx's theories about society, economics and politicscollectively known as Marxismhold that all societies progress through the dialectic of class struggle: a conflict between an ownership class which controls production and a lower class which produces the labour for goods. Heavily critical of the current socio-economic form of society, capitalism, he called it the "dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", believing it to be run by the wealthy classes purely for their own benefit. He critized the writings of the leading theoretical exponents of capitalism at that time: these were the political economists, nowadays often referred to as the classical economists; Adam Smith, called the father of Capitalism (1723-90) and David Ricardo (1772-1823) are the foremost representatives of the genre.