Abstract
The essence of evolutionism was expressed by Charles Darwin in the very last paragraph of his Origin of Species as follows: "Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, the production of the higher animals, directly follows." The struggle for existence, with elimination of the weak and unfit, leads to survival of the fittest, so this war of nature must eventually lead to higher animals, higher races, and finally to higher civilizations. Or so goes the rationale for Social Darwinism, as exploited especially by Darwin's disciples in the century following the publication of his book.