Abstract
As a rule, historians have no quarrel with Darwin's theory of evolution. We accept the enormous amount of physical evidence that humanity emerged in Africa and that we share common ancestors with other great apes. Historians also tend to believe evolution is a matter of the human frame, rather than the brain; it is a matter of little direct relevance for our discipline. Furthermore, we remain decidedly uneasy at attempts to apply evolution to the study of the present or the recent past. We are quite aware of the sordid history of Social Darwinists and their role in the rise of the eugenics movement, segregation, and the final solution.1 Yet there are a growing number of social scientists, particularly in psychology, but also in sociology, linguistics, or anthropology, who incorporate evolutionary theory and evidence into their research.2 It may be time for historians to revisit the taboo that maintains that evolution is a fact in terms for pre-history and a racist hoax in terms of social history.
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