Scientific thought and humanity's shrinking place in the universe

Western Civilization

Nature of the Universe

Between 1850 and 1914, scientific thought and discovery became much more pronounced and accepted throughout society. Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" began to be acknowledged as true, and it helped indicate the world took thousands of years to evolve. The nature of the universe came into better understanding as well, as scientists began to discover new planets and stars, and understand that man and the Earth were far less dominant in the vastness of the universe. As scientists discovered the size and scope of the universe, humanity seemed far less important and influential in such a vast universe. In many areas, society became more equal, with classes disappearing and democracy appearing in more areas of Europe.

Science understood that the Earth had evolved and man had evolved. While man stood on the top-most rung of evolution on this planet, it was hard to know if there was life on other planets and what had evolved there. Thus, humanity's place in the universe seemed to shrink, even as humanity's place on Earth grew. People accepted science, and so they also accepted the idea that humans were not unique, but were descendents of animals, and products of the natural world. Thus, some people felt the theories of evolution actually eliminated meaning and purpose from the universe, and that man's contribution to the universe was slight at best. It was clear man enjoyed superior intellect to other life forms on Earth, but in the universe, that might not be true, and so humanity's place in the universe seemed to mean less than it did before, which was distressing to many people.