When Charles Darwin first published his Origin of Species in 1859 and put forward the theory of evolution by natural selection, I would argue, that it would not be an understatement to state that human society was forced to rethink itself. Many of us, or at least myself, have studied Darwin’s impact on the English-speaking world in great depth, however, not much so in regards to the rest of the world. With this, I admittedly am not too knowledgeable on this subject, however, after having spent some time reading academic journals on Darwin’s impact on Russian science and thought, I will summarize what I read.
First, an important question must be asked, what was the place of Social Darwinism in the growing rationalist tradition of Imperial Russian science? Darwin’s work garnered large support in Russia, with many praising his contributions to the “natural science.” This is not to say, however, that it was not met with criticism. Russian theologian, Krasovskii, was one of the first vocal opponents to Darwin’s work, and who found it “necessary to reject all the key postulates of Darwin’s theory.” Likewise, later in the 1870s, Karl von Baer, “added new logical and substantive arguments and a heightened sense of urgency to the war on the new evolutionary theory.” Von Baer, in his essay, “Über Papuas und Alfuren,” concluded with the following statement: “I want to offer only one thought to scientists: a hypothesis may be necessary and valuable only if it is treated as a hypothesis, that is, if one takes its basic premises as topics of special inquiry. But a hypothesis may be unnecessary and harmful if, by disregarding proofs, we treat it as an end product of our search for knowledge. Our knowledge is fragmentary. Some persons may find satisfaction in filling in the gaps in scientific knowledge by relying on presuppositions, but that is not science.” In other words, von Baer, believed Darwin to have violated the standard practice of the principles of scientific methodology, a sentiment shared by other Russians of the time. This is not to say, however, that Darwin lacked support in the Russian community, in fact, “enthusiastic” support was given to Darwin’s evolutionary thought by influential leaders of the Russian scientific community (Ivan Pavlov, I. I. Mechnikov, K. A. Timiriazev, and N. A. Umov). It is also important to note that during this time Darwinism had begun establishing a foothold in the Russian university system, garnering support in leading Russian universities. In conclusion, Imperial Russia “contributed not only widely heralded builders of the Darwinian theory, but also equally eminent critics… It [Darwin’s work] became a powerful source of ideas that changed the course of science, the pulse of philosophy, and the meaning of culture.”
Source: https://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft5290063h;chunk.id=0;doc.view=print