Darwin's 'dangerous' idea
NeRdY said:
for the DP:
something the social and political problems with Darwins theory of evolution
all i have is about the religious peoples problem with not teaching creation and the fact that we evolved from apes is proposterous. Is there anything in past forums on this cause i cant find it anywhere!
The impact of Darwin's theory of natural selection went far beyond science and biology. Darwin's theory of evolution brought to head the clash between science and religion. For centuries studies of religion, theology, philosophy, the arts and science had been closely related. As a consequence of the clash between different views of the origins of life these disciplines of study became more separate.
Darwin applied his ideas only to biology. Yet others used his idea of natural selection in political and social areanas. Darwin influenced the development of communism though Darwin never applied his idea of natural selection to human societies. Marx had read Darwin's work and was influenced by it in his writing. He wrote of the class struggle between the rich and the poor and a class war. He justified his arguments, in part, in terms of the 'struggle for existance'. This idea was similar to popular view of Darwinism as 'the survival of the fittest'. Marx wrote: "Darwin's book is very important and serves me as a natural scientific basis for the class struggle of history." Though Darwin may have influenced Marx, it is perhaps just possible that oppression and poverty were more influention in the Russian revolution than was his theory of evoltion.
Darwin also influenced politics and economics at the turn of the century. In particular, man-spirited attitudes towards the disadvantaged were sometimes justified in terms of natural selection. The term 'survival of the fisttest', for example, was not coined by Darwin but by Herbert Spencer. As a result, it could be argued that human progress required the elimination of the unfit. This was one factor that influenced Hitler's drive to produce a pure, superior Aryan race.
Darwin's view that evolution resulted from competition for resources has been applied to competition within and between societies and nations. It can be misused to justify war and explotation of the weak and poor. It has been misused to give scientifiec credibility to ideas such as 'might is right', 'greed is good' and competition is the road to ecomomic progress. Darwin himself avoided applications of his theory outside biology and refused to engage in religious debated throughout his life. Yet Darwin has been blamed, at various times, for destruction of religious beliefs, the rise of communism, ecomomic rtionalism, facism and even the Second World War.
Hope that helps
