The ‘survival of the fittest’ was used as an analogy to which individual’s work?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Making analogies with Darwinian biology, which hit the world like a cloudburst in 1859, he tried to show that in the same way that nature worked automatically to select her “elite” and thus accomplish the “Survival of the Fittest,” so society could approach perfection to the extent that free play was allowed its “elite.” His statement: “There cannot be more good than that of letting social progress go on unhindered; an immensity of mischief may be done in . . . the artificial preservation of those least able to care for themselves,” sets out his position clearly. He defended cupidity (that great capitalist virtue) as part of the universal struggle for existence. The possession of wealth, to him, was the hallmark of the fittest, to be worshipped like the Holy Grail.
Success, sans the saving grace of stewardship, alone was considered of account. Calvinism, the doctrine of thrift, hard work, etc., was here revealed in all its nakedness shorn of its “conscience.” No wonder the developing capitalists of the “new” world hailed these findings as those of “science.” Of his disciples in the U.S.A., one of the most prominent was young Andrew Carnegie. This Scotch Presbyterian very early lost his faith and yet could not find justification for his secular calling. “Man must have an idol,” he held in 1868. “This amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry — no idol more debasing than the worship of money . . . To continue much longer overwhelmed by business cares and with most of my thoughts wholly upon the way to make more money in the shortest time, must degrade me beyond hope of permanent recovery.” He nonetheless confessed: “I was determined to make a fortune . . . and nothing could be allowed to interfere with my business career.” Spencer’s pseudo-science provided Carnegie with the rationalisation for justifying his outlook. His (Carnegie’s) autobiography contains the following: “ . . . That light came as a flood and all was clear. Not only had I got rid of theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution. ‘All is well since all grows better’ became my motto, my true source of comfort.” So, with his newfound religion, he laid the foundation for U. S. steel production — and the brutalities of Homestead. “Survival of Fittest” became linked with this “almost maniacal appetite for wealth prevalent in the United States,” to quote the poet, Whitman. Carnegie was but one of a vast number (almost all) of the businessmen of the time to take Spencer’s “science” to their bourgeois bosoms.
These were the years following the close of the Civil War; THE PROCLAMATION OF FREEDOM for the chattel slaves of the South; the passing of the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. These, the days of “binding up the nation’s wounds;” of the “Reconstruction,” when the “freed” slaves found themselves more insecure, more enslaved than they were on the plantations and together with the “poor white trash” wandered aimlessly throughout the land in search of sustenance. The days of the Spenceriansin business who, recognising the value of political power, were not content to delegate that power to sycophants and stooges but who, directly, as members of the House and Senate were more numerous (as such) than at any other period in U. S. history. Later, through brainwashing techniques and promises of pelf, they produced and relied upon corrupt and mendacious mouthpieces.
In 1886, Senator George Hearst, father of William Randolph, confessed to his colleagues: “I do not know much about books; I have not read very much, but I have travelled a good deal and observed men and things and I have made up my mind after all my experiences that the members of the Senate are the Survivors of the Fittest.” (Emph. added.)
These were the days of expanding capital. The year after the war ended the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, envisaging the consequences of the war boom, put it this way:
“There is an increasing tendency in our capital to move in larger masses than formerly. Small business firms compete at more disadvantage with richer houses, and are gradually being absorbed into them.”

Question

Multiple choice

The ‘survival of the fittest’ was used as an analogy to which individual’s work?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

Making analogies with Darwinian biology, which hit the world like a cloudburst in 1859, he tried to show that in the same way that nature worked automatically to select her “elite” and thus accomplish the “Survival of the Fittest,” so society could approach perfection to the extent that free play was allowed its “elite.” His statement: “There cannot be more good than that of letting social progress go on unhindered; an immensity of mischief may be done in . . . the artificial preservation of those least able to care for themselves,” sets out his position clearly. He defended cupidity (that great capitalist virtue) as part of the universal struggle for existence. The possession of wealth, to him, was the hallmark of the fittest, to be worshipped like the Holy Grail.
Success, sans the saving grace of stewardship, alone was considered of account. Calvinism, the doctrine of thrift, hard work, etc., was here revealed in all its nakedness shorn of its “conscience.” No wonder the developing capitalists of the “new” world hailed these findings as those of “science.” Of his disciples in the U.S.A., one of the most prominent was young Andrew Carnegie. This Scotch Presbyterian very early lost his faith and yet could not find justification for his secular calling. “Man must have an idol,” he held in 1868. “This amassing of wealth is one of the worst species of idolatry — no idol more debasing than the worship of money . . . To continue much longer overwhelmed by business cares and with most of my thoughts wholly upon the way to make more money in the shortest time, must degrade me beyond hope of permanent recovery.” He nonetheless confessed: “I was determined to make a fortune . . . and nothing could be allowed to interfere with my business career.” Spencer’s pseudo-science provided Carnegie with the rationalisation for justifying his outlook. His (Carnegie’s) autobiography contains the following: “ . . . That light came as a flood and all was clear. Not only had I got rid of theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution. ‘All is well since all grows better’ became my motto, my true source of comfort.” So, with his newfound religion, he laid the foundation for U. S. steel production — and the brutalities of Homestead. “Survival of Fittest” became linked with this “almost maniacal appetite for wealth prevalent in the United States,” to quote the poet, Whitman. Carnegie was but one of a vast number (almost all) of the businessmen of the time to take Spencer’s “science” to their bourgeois bosoms.
These were the years following the close of the Civil War; THE PROCLAMATION OF FREEDOM for the chattel slaves of the South; the passing of the 14th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. These, the days of “binding up the nation’s wounds;” of the “Reconstruction,” when the “freed” slaves found themselves more insecure, more enslaved than they were on the plantations and together with the “poor white trash” wandered aimlessly throughout the land in search of sustenance. The days of the Spenceriansin business who, recognising the value of political power, were not content to delegate that power to sycophants and stooges but who, directly, as members of the House and Senate were more numerous (as such) than at any other period in U. S. history. Later, through brainwashing techniques and promises of pelf, they produced and relied upon corrupt and mendacious mouthpieces.
In 1886, Senator George Hearst, father of William Randolph, confessed to his colleagues: “I do not know much about books; I have not read very much, but I have travelled a good deal and observed men and things and I have made up my mind after all my experiences that the members of the Senate are the Survivors of the Fittest.” (Emph. added.)
These were the days of expanding capital. The year after the war ended the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, envisaging the consequences of the war boom, put it this way:
“There is an increasing tendency in our capital to move in larger masses than formerly. Small business firms compete at more disadvantage with richer houses, and are gradually being absorbed into them.”

Spencer
Darwin
Carnegie
Whitman

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Answer 1

B Correct answer

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