Claim CA002.1:
Darwinism leads to social Darwinism, the policy that the weak should be
allowed to fail and die.
Source:
Morris, Henry M. 1985. Scientific Creationism. Green Forest, AR: Master
Books, p. 179.
Response:
- This is an example of the naturalistic fallacy
-- the argument
that how things are implies how they ought to be. But "is" does not
imply "ought." Evolution only tells how things are; it does not say
how they should be.
- The source of social Darwinism was not Darwin but Herbert Spencer and
the tradition of Protestant nonconformism going back to Hobbes via
Malthus. Spencer's ideas of evolution were Lamarckian. The only real
connection between Darwinism and social Darwinism is the name.
- Diverse political and religious ideas draw upon evolutionary biology,
including ideas advocating greater cooperation.
- Evolutionary theory shows us that the long-term survival of a species
is strongly linked with its genetic variability. All Social
Darwinist programs advocate minimizing genetic variability, thus
reducing chances of long-term survival in the event of environmental
change. An understanding of evolution should then rebuke any attempt at
social Darwinism if the long-term survival of humanity is treated as
a goal.
- Eugenics and social Darwinian accounts are more often tied
to the rise of the science of genetics than to evolutionary theory.
Links:
Wilkins, John, 1997. Evolution and philosophy: Does evolution make might
right? http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/evolphil/social.html
Further Reading:
Bannister, R. C., 1979. Social Darwinism: Science and Myth in
Anglo-American Social Thought. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Bowler, P. J., 1993. Biology and Social Thought, 1850-1914. Berkeley
papers in history of science; 15. Berkeley, Calif., Office for History
of Science and Technology University of California at Berkeley: 95.
Hofstadter, R., 1944. Social Darwinism in American Thought.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Kevles, D., 1995. In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of
Human Heredity. New York: Knopf.
Ruse, Michael, 2001. Social Darwinism. Chapter 10 in: Can a Darwinian
Be a Christian?, Cambridge University Press.
Singer, P., 2000. A Darwinian Left: Politics, Evolution, and
Cooperation. New Haven: Yale University Press.
created 2003-4-21, modified 2003-9-26
