Purchase this article
USD $22.00
On the Beginnings and Early Discussions of the Metaphor
Survival of the Fittest
in Contributions to the History of Concepts
Author:
Falko Schmieder
Falko Schmieder
Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Berlin schmieder@zfl-berlin.org
Search for other papers by Falko Schmieder in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by Falko Schmieder in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
USD $0.01
All currencies in US Dollar
The article undertakes a reconstruction of the invention and early discussions (from 1850 to 1870) of the metaphor survival of the fittest. It shows that the metaphor has been established at the intersection of two different formations: first, the classical paradigm of oeconomia naturae and the modern paradigm of evolutionary theory, and secondly in the tense atmosphere of different theoretical disciplines. Because of its impure origin and the inseparability of its social, political, and biological layers of meaning, the history of this metaphor must be written as an interdisciplinary history.