Monsters of an Awakened Reason. The influence of the Biblical account in the development of the scientific theories on the origin of man and its variations

Abstract

The triumph of the reason as the only way of natural knowledge was the most remarkable result of the paradigm shift occurred during the so-called Scientific Revolution, which reaches from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, and in which dogmatic reasoning lost progressively its role as the principal form of knowledge. Nevertheless, during the following centuries, a large part of the men of science were willing to favour the conversion of dogma into an agent of rational thought. This paper, tries to offer a point of reflection on the influence that the biblical account maintained in the construction of the modern scientific theories that, somehow, tried to explain relevant issues such as the origin of physical and moral differences between humans. The broader objective is to demonstrate that, as a form of cultural expression, the dogmatic-religious thought continued to play a transcendental role in the legitimation of a part of the modern rational scientific discourse, committed to defending the civilizing role and the physical and moral superiority of Western states, far beyond what the simple use of reason permitted.