3 ms·
For the record, "survival of the fittest" has nothing to do with Darwinism. It was an expression coined by Herbert Spencer, contrast to the more neutral "descen
by vezzy-fnord 11y ago
For the record, "survival of the fittest" has nothing to do with Darwinism. It was an expression coined by Herbert Spencer, contrast to the more neutral "descent with modification".
The Nazi approach was markedly different. They borrowed a lot from Lamarckism, Malthusianism and pan-Germanic mysticism, not necessarily just flawed, naturalistically fallacious interpretations of Darwinism. Eugenics, particularly, was largely started by Francis Galton.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoYet Darwin himself coined 'natural selection'. It was the leap from 'natural' to the human realm that German Aristocracy made, and fed nationalism to the point WWI was inevitable.
- vezzy-fnord 11y agoWhich is funny because eugenics is fundamentally a form of artificial selection, much like the one practiced agriculturally for millennia. You're trying so hard to indict Darwin on this, when virtually all of Social Darwinism is unrelated to him.
- JoeAltmaier 11y agoI'm just being descriptive. Certainly social movements were related to him; his was just the spark with world-spanning consequences.
- vezzy-fnord 11y agoYou're not being descriptive. You're trying to equate a positive body of theory (Darwinian evolution) as necessarily implying a syncretic, normative body of theory (Social Darwinism, which varies from laissez-faire to collectivist interpretations, largely because most of it has scantly to do with actual Darwinism). In other words, you're committing a naturalistic fallacy. It should also be noted that much of "Social Darwinism" is actually quite old, going back to Plato's endorsement of selective, rationed breeding in The Republic.