ABSTRACT
The entire face of Western Europe and North America was transformed under the onslaught of the Industrial Revolution. The scientific discoveries of the age forced man to a total re-assessment of his view of himself both as a physical and as a moral being. Naturalism is clearly in consonance with the mood of the age which it reflects in its overwhelming emphasis on facts. In the development of Naturalism Darwin’s theory is without doubt the most important single shaping factor. The Naturalists’ view of man is directly dependent on the Darwinian picture of his descent from the lower animal. The Naturalists’ Darwinian view of man was supported by factors from various other sources, themselves often indebted to Darwin. A firm conviction of the cardinal role of heredity is common to nearly all the Naturalists. Naturalism thus arose in response to the stimuli of the age which it reflected in its matter as in its manner.
