TY - JOUR
T1 - Human history and deep time in nineteenth-century British sciences
T2 - An introduction
AU - Sera-Shriar, Efram
PY - 2015/6/1
Y1 - 2015/6/1
N2 - The historicisation of humans was a major endeavour in nineteenth-century Britain, and one that led to wide-ranging debates involving a variety of disciplinary approaches, new and old. Within the context of science and medicine these discussions centred on the issues of human origins and evolution. Did the various races living throughout the world develop from a single location, or were their physical and social differences evidence for their separate genesis? Which disciplinary tradition offered the best method for tracing human development? Was it even possible to trace that development, or had too much time passed since the dawn of humans? Furthermore, who had the authority to speak about these matters? This special issue will examine these core questions and introduce some of the ways that researchers attempted to historicise humans within the context of nineteenth-century British sciences.
AB - The historicisation of humans was a major endeavour in nineteenth-century Britain, and one that led to wide-ranging debates involving a variety of disciplinary approaches, new and old. Within the context of science and medicine these discussions centred on the issues of human origins and evolution. Did the various races living throughout the world develop from a single location, or were their physical and social differences evidence for their separate genesis? Which disciplinary tradition offered the best method for tracing human development? Was it even possible to trace that development, or had too much time passed since the dawn of humans? Furthermore, who had the authority to speak about these matters? This special issue will examine these core questions and introduce some of the ways that researchers attempted to historicise humans within the context of nineteenth-century British sciences.
KW - Developmental theories
KW - Evolutionary studies
KW - Human history
KW - Human sciences
KW - Race
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84941600712&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.01.017
DO - 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.01.017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84941600712
SN - 1369-8486
VL - 51
SP - 19
EP - 22
JO - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
JF - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
ER -