Introduction

In his masterful study of how Darwin’s theory was received, interpreted, and utilized in different settings, David Livingstone notes:

As the theory diffused, it diverged. In different venues, both Darwin’s name and Darwinism were made to mean different things. In one

place his theory of evolution was seen as an individualist assault on col lectivism, in another as a justification for colonial supremacy; else - where it was taken to be a subversive attack on racial segregation, yet elsewhere as a symbol of progressive enlightenment.2