The Sexes in Science and History: An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man — John Shaqi
The Sexes in Science and History: An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to manGamble, Eliza Burt
Philosophy
The Sexes in Science and History: An inquiry into the dogma of woman's inferiority to man
Gamble, Eliza Burt
Sex; Women -- History; Women -- Social conditions
When two tribes of primeval man, living in the same country, came
into competition, if (other circumstances being equal) the one tribe
included a great number of courageous, sympathetic, and faithful
members, who were always ready to warn each other of danger, to aid
and defend each other, this tribe would succeed better and conquer the
other.... Selfish and contentious people will not cohere, and without
coherence nothing can be effected. A tribe rich in the above qualities
would spread and be victorious over other tribes.... Thus the social
and moral qualities would tend slowly to advance and be diffused
throughout the world.[49]
[49] _The Descent of Man_, p. 130.
Since, then, it has been proved by scientists that without an
association of interests and the coherence of the tribe the social
instincts must have remained weak, and since it has been shown by them
that without concerted action the higher faculties, including the moral
sense, could not have been developed; and since, furthermore, the
influences which have led to this development are those growing out of
the maternal instincts, may we not conclude that all of those qualities
which make man pre-eminently a social animal—his love of society, his
desire for the good-will of his kind, his perception of right and
wrong, and, finally, that sympathy which at last gradually extending
beyond the limits of race and country proclaims the brotherhood of man
and the unity of life on the earth—all these characteristics, are but
an extension of maternal affection, an outgrowth of that early bond
between mother and child, which, while affecting the entire line of
development, still remains unchanged and unchangeable.
CHAPTER V
THE SUPREMACY OF THE MALE
An unprejudiced review of the facts relative to the differentiation
of the two sexes, as set forth by naturalists, reveals not only the
primary principles involved in human progress, but shows also the
source whence these principles originated. These facts serve also to
explain that “mental superiority” of man over woman observed by Mr.
Darwin and others in the present stage of human growth.
Notwithstanding the superior degree of development which, according
to the facts elaborated by scientists, must belong to the female in
all the orders of life below mankind, Mr. Darwin would have us believe
that so soon as the human species appeared on the earth the processes
which for untold ages had been in operation were reversed, and that
through courage and perseverance, or patience, qualities which were
the result of extreme selfishness, or which were acquired while in
pursuit of animal gratification, man finally became superior to woman.
The following furnishes an example of Mr. Darwin’s reasoning upon this
subject. He says:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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