Louis Schmier wrote: > the Nazis very specifically called upon science as > justification of their views.
They actually called upon pseudo-science as a justification for their views. Racial hygiene and its extrapolation to issues of land, warfare, governmental structuring, education, etc., as espoused by the Nazis, was more ideology than science. They used the veneer of science as part of their propaganda campaign to make their sweeping prejudices more palatable to the general population. Moreover, destructive ideologies alone do not result in a genocide but are rather elements of a much larger constellation of factors. Science can certainly be misused towards destructive ends but then, so can just about everything else. In the case of science, this represents not so much a problem with the science but with the individuals and societal misuse of that science. The same case could be made about water or religion. In the case of water, I can use it to sustain life or to bring someone's life to an end. Should one condemn water because someone historically has misused it towards destructive ends? Or in terms of religion, does it really make sense to blame the attacks of 9/11 on the Koran or blame Oklahoma City Federal Building bombing on Christianity? The terrorists in each case drew on their religious misinterpretations for their actions. So does it make sense to condemn each religion for the misuses of that religion? The Holocaust was the result of human agency and it is within that context that it is best understood. Blaming science or saying the Holocaust wouldn't have been possible without science is like saying that that Holocaust wouldn't have been possible without railway lines. Both have a small grain of seemingly sounding truth to them but neither were the root cause of the Holocaust. Best, Linda For more about genocide or religious hate/violence see: Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2005). Psychosocial roots of genocide: risk, prevention, and intervention. /Journal of Genocide Research, 7/, 101-128. http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/WoolfHulsizerJGR05.pdf Woolf, L. M., & Hulsizer, M. R. (2002/2003). Intra- and inter- religious hate and violence: A psychosocial model. /Journal of Hate Studies, 2/, 5-26. http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/againsthate/Journal2/Journal2.html -- Linda M. Woolf, Ph.D. Professor, Psychology and International Human Rights Past-President, Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, & Violence (Div. 48, APA) <http://www.peacepsych.org> Steering Committee, Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) <http://www.psysr.org> Secretary, Raphael Lemkin Award Committee, Institute for the Study of Genocide <http://www.instituteforthestudyofgenocide.org/> Webster University 470 East Lockwood St. Louis, MO 63119 Main Webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/ <http://www.webster.edu/%7Ewoolflm/> [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's (and woman's) best friend. . . . Inside a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
