Allen Esterson wrote:
>
> If we're
> going to go in for guilt by association, then there are plenty of people
> ready and willing to argue that modern Darwinism is tainted in a similar
> way. Who can doubt that pre-Nazi and Nazi philosophies were influenced by
> notions derived from Darwinian theory? This is routinely used by
> creationists to denounce Darwinism. Try these as samplers: 
>
>   
If we're really going to do the history here, it is probably worth 
pointing out that the early Nazi eugenic program was the direct result 
(much more direct than, say, from Darwin's writings) of its close study 
of the US eugneics program, particularly that of California, which was 
busy sterilizing thousands of its citizens for are range of physical and 
psychological abnormalities. The largest per capita eugenic 
sterilization program in the 20th century, however, was (perhaps 
surprisingly) in Sweden.

I recently did a blog item on this: http://ahp.yorku.ca/?p=366

As for Darwinism itself, it is at root of pretty well EVERY important 
thing the world has done biologically for the last century or so, 
whether for good or ill. That doesn't make the theory of natural 
selection good or bad in itself. Rather, it makes it very likely TRUE.

Regards,
Chris
-- 

Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada

 

416-736-2100 ex. 66164
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.yorku.ca/christo/



"Part of respecting another person is taking the time to criticise his 
or her views." 

   - Melissa Lane, in a /Guardian/ obituary for philosopher Peter Lipton

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