The Interrelations of Biological and Social Thought in America from the Time of Jefferson to World War II

FAIN: FT-12158-74

Richard W. Burkhardt, Jr
Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois (Champaign, IL 61801-3620)

To explore two historical questions of general humanistic interest: 1) how have changes in biological theory, social theory, and American society affected views of human nature held by American thinkers from the time of Jefferson until WWII? 2) how did the ideas of science as a force for moral good gradually disappear as the sciences devoted to the study of man became increasingly professionalized and specialized after the middle of the 19th century.