Were you aware that Darwin believed that men were superior to women?

Question

Fact or theory?

Hey its out there on the internet, so sue me. If he can be wrong in these areas regardless of the times, he can be wrong about evolution.

one more thing, if he was such a freethinker, how come he followed the customs and traditions of his time when it came to women and race?

Answer 1

That is what the bible teaches and Darwin went to seminary colllege.

Answer 2

Hey, there. DesCartes didn't necessarily believe his own nonsense about the four liquid humours in the body, which magically moved the limbs...
But he had to explain it that way so the Church would be happy that his theory included a separation of mind and body, and that the mind was predominant.
Galileo had to recount his theories about the sun at the center of the universe, not wanting the hell that Copernicus suffered, and at the point of near-execution himself.
So if the whole damned society were of the chauvinist persuasion, would you expect Darwin be anything less tahn an adaptive chameleon?
Come on now, you'll never reall y know WHAT he thought.

Answer 3

First, while it's true that Darwin thought women were inferior to men, there were cultural reasons to support this that were supported by the church. The Biblical teachings that women were meant to remain silent, that it was improper for them to teach men and other Chritian beliefs placed women in a place where learning and achieving were things rarely done by women.

In this environment, where women raised children, made clothes and kept a home, and learning and achieving were relegated to men alone, it stands to reason that some would assume that women weren't capable of such achievement.

Reviewing the documentation that I've been able to find for this particular denigration of Darwin, I've found that most of it was an analysis, by Christians, of works, while contemporary ar after Darwin, but not by Darwin himself. Much of this seems to be an attemtp to discredit Darwin by attacking works that came after him. This would be like discrediting Einstein for the failure of Cold Fusion.

In any event, no believer in Evolution believes Darwin to have been without flaw, or without error. He was not a God, and none believe him to have been so.

In general, males are somewhat superior in physical strength. In earlier ages, males did compete in a superior fashion in intellectual pursuits, though, as I mentioned before, this was culturally reinforced, much as it remains in many places today.

This indicates a failure of Darwin, but not of his theory of Evolution. Scientists are not bound to the strictures of Biblical prophets. They do not speak for God, and we don't put them to death for occasional shortcomings.

Answer 4

That this was Darwin's belief? Don't know.
That this is fact? Define superior. They beat us at some stuff, we beat them at others.

Those Bible folk tended toward the male-dominant, didn't they? Some male people I know who are stunningly full of crap still point to Scripture as the source of their "authority" over females.

Answer 5

No, I wasn't aware that Darwin felt that men were superior to women. He was just full of theories wasn't he?

Answer 6

It wouldn't surprise me. Most men (and quite a few women) of his era believed that. Just because someone has an innovative mind doesn't mean he can entirely escape his culture's prejudices.

Answer 7

And Newton was a virgin until some absurdly late point in his life. What does this have to do with the validity of his work in science and mathematics?

Answer 8

It does not matter whether Darwin was sexist or not. He didn't publish that as a theory. If he did, he would have been wrong, but his main theory, Evolution, is as sound as ever.

Answer 9

That wasn't part of Darwins theories at all.

Answer 10

all men of darwins time and most of the men of this time believe men are superior to women...and in some ways we are.