What does polygenesis mean?
Polygenesis is the theory that organisms or groups of organisms have arisen through multiple independent origins rather than from one common source. In biology and evolutionary thought, it has contrasted with monogenesis, the view that all living organisms ultimately descend from a shared ancestor. The term also has a darker historical application: nineteenth-century writers used versions of polygenesis to argue that different human races had been created separately, often connecting those claims with arguments for racial inequality and slavery. Scientific advances, especially comparative anatomy, embryology, and eventually genetics, undermined these human polygenesis theories and supported common descent. Today the word is used mainly by historians, scholars, and students examining disputed doctrines of human origins, although it can also describe broader ideas about the independent origins of species or biological traits. Because of its racial history, any anthropological use should make clear that the doctrine is obsolete and discredited.
nounThe theory that living organisms or groups of organisms have multiple independent origins rather than deriving from a single common source. In historical anthropology, the term also referred to the now-discredited doctrine that different human races were created separately.
- The principle that life or particular organisms originated through more than one independent evolutionary or creation event.
- The historical doctrine that different human races had separate origins and were not descended from a common human ancestor.
- More generally, any account in which a phenomenon or body of organisms has multiple independent origins.
"The discovery of genetic relationships undermined earlier claims of polygenesis and supported the idea of common descent."
"Early naturalists debated polygenesis before comparative anatomy and genetics made common descent increasingly persuasive."
"The book explains how arguments about polygenesis were later enlisted to defend racial hierarchy and slavery."
The plural is grammatically regular but rare; the term is often used in the singular or without a plural when referring to the doctrine as a whole.
"Historians have compared several polygeneses proposed during the nineteenth century."
Once used to make racial hierarchy look scientifically credible, polygenesis is now chiefly a warning about how theories of origins can acquire ideological weight.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does polygenesis come from?
Polygenesis combines the Greek combining form poly-, meaning “many” or “much,” with genesis, meaning “origin” or “beginning.” The resulting term literally describes “many origins” or “multiple beginnings.” It belongs to a wider family of English words derived from the ancient Greek root genēs, meaning “origin, birth, or kind,” including genesis, generation, and generic.
Related word forms
How polygenesis is actually used
The word is now mainly historical or technical. Anthropological applications are associated with discredited racial theories and should be identified as such. In biology, it describes a proposal of multiple independent origins rather than descent from a single ancestral population.
Easily confused with polygenesis
Polygenesis proposes multiple independent origins, whereas monogenesis holds that organisms share a single origin or common ancestry.