Dingo
Dec 19 2002, 06:26 AM
I came across an article about Charles Darwin by Ernst Mayr. In it he explains what radical changes Darwin had brought into modern thinking and why he, more than any other modern figure, was a source of controversy in science, politics, philosophy and religion. I thought by offering a précis of some of Mayr's discussion of Darwin, maybe we could expose some 'fault lines' and get a better idea of some of the thinking on this board. I'm not entirely comfortable with everything in this article but I think his principal points have a thoughtful, tested quality.
One of the points you hear made in many circles is that Darwin with his Godless dog-eat-dog view of man's origins has been the incubator of much of the mass murder in the modern world. Hitler and Stalin in particular are mentioned as Darwin's disciples. The right seems to emphasise his God free biology and demotion of man to animal as the problem and the left the Social Darwinism of his Spensorian disciples. Perhaps offering a broader perspective of Darwin and his "evolutionary theory" from an unabashed and well respected disciple of Darwin's will shed some light on the merits or demerits of those claims.
Unfortunately I don't have a link for the article, 'Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought', but I believe you can order it from the archive section of 'Scientific American' for $5(www.scientificamerican.com). Even better get it from the periodicals section of your local library. The date is July 2000. So without further ado here are my excerpts:
Copyrighted article removed.
I thought that last part discussing altruism was particularly interesting in light of the common belief that Darwin encourages a more predatory view of social relations.
Mike
Dec 19 2002, 02:21 PM
That is a copyrighted article.
Do not post copyrighted articles.
Please read
the rules.
Mike