Education and Discrimination
It was the great Nelson Mandela who once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
After, reading the Enlightenment “newspaper” with different articles (from the 1700’s) referencing the views on gender and race, a social ladder became evident. White males were in charge during this time period. They were the scientific, religious, and philosophical leaders. The men in this time period raised great questions and developed revolutionary theories and hypotheses. They attempted to find a way to integrate science and religion. However, their discrimination towards certain people limited them.
For a time period so devoted to learning and improving, it is absurd to think the education of some of the population was limited. It is clear throughout the Enlightenment “newspaper” that women were not thought of us important in the pursuit of knowledge (Along with people of other races, however, this was beginning to change). I like to think of some of the brilliant female scientific minds of this century and what would be missed without them, for example, Rosalind Franklin and her contributions to the understanding of DNA. Education is how we change the world. These men simply limited their possibilities.
I think the greatest contribution to the future evolutionary theory, would be the beginning of the idea of descent with modification, also the primitive ideas of a common ancestor. It is clear by Carolus Linnaeus’s The Systems of Nature (1735) it seemed as current day humans came from a more primitive “Four-footed, mute, hairy. Wild man.” He also revealed that there was variation among species (Describing the different races). This would have been some of the first publications going against the widely accepted creation ideas.
While some ideas from the 18th century benefited the pursuit of knowledge for the future, especially in regards to evolutionary theory, discrimination created limitations.
After, reading the Enlightenment “newspaper” with different articles (from the 1700’s) referencing the views on gender and race, a social ladder became evident. White males were in charge during this time period. They were the scientific, religious, and philosophical leaders. The men in this time period raised great questions and developed revolutionary theories and hypotheses. They attempted to find a way to integrate science and religion. However, their discrimination towards certain people limited them.
For a time period so devoted to learning and improving, it is absurd to think the education of some of the population was limited. It is clear throughout the Enlightenment “newspaper” that women were not thought of us important in the pursuit of knowledge (Along with people of other races, however, this was beginning to change). I like to think of some of the brilliant female scientific minds of this century and what would be missed without them, for example, Rosalind Franklin and her contributions to the understanding of DNA. Education is how we change the world. These men simply limited their possibilities.
I think the greatest contribution to the future evolutionary theory, would be the beginning of the idea of descent with modification, also the primitive ideas of a common ancestor. It is clear by Carolus Linnaeus’s The Systems of Nature (1735) it seemed as current day humans came from a more primitive “Four-footed, mute, hairy. Wild man.” He also revealed that there was variation among species (Describing the different races). This would have been some of the first publications going against the widely accepted creation ideas.
While some ideas from the 18th century benefited the pursuit of knowledge for the future, especially in regards to evolutionary theory, discrimination created limitations.