Tag Archives: Social Darwinism

Survival of the Fittest 101: Charles Darwin, Barack Obama, and the Origin of Health Care Reform

Barack Obama’s organic approach to health care reform is a type of Darwinism applied to politics that I think I can endorse. Though it’s not 100% certain, it appears that Barack Obama will have a living, breathing health care reform bill … Continue reading

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Eugenics is Fun! Genetic Tracking of Children in Chinese Summer Camps!

According to this rather sunny CNN report from China, the genetic tests applied to these summer camp toddlers “work even on newborns!” Gee. That means, of course, that the tests could also be applied to preborns, doesn’t it? Did you notice that the … Continue reading

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You Break It, You Own It: Whence the Future of Eugenics Research?

God’s a delusion (Dawkins). Religion poisons everything (Hitchens). So let’s have the end of faith (Harris)! Okay. You’ve got your wish. Let’s imagine that the New Atheists have won. The world is our big and collective secular oyster to do whatever we want … Continue reading

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Does Atheism Lead to Belief in Social Darwinism?

The short answer is no. But there is also a longer answer that qualifies this “no”, and atheists and agnostics should think about that qualified answer. It is certainly true that there is no logical necessity at work that tells … Continue reading

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Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: Women, Newly Arrived at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Selected for Forced Labor, May, 1944

Source: US Holocaust Museum archives

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Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: Propaganda Slide Depicting “Deformed” Children

Social Darwinism played a significant role in Hitler’s thinking, and it was part of the racialist ideology of the Nazis that the “unfit” (the physically or mentally disabled) should not devour the time and resources of the fit. Consequently, the fit … Continue reading

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Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: A Jewish Man with a Wicker Chair Arrives at the “Judenramp” (Auschwitz-Birkenau, May, 1944)

Source: US Holocaust Museum archive

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Bearing Witness to the Holocaust: Allied Footage of Mauthausen Concentration Camp, 1945

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Evolution v. Creation Metaphor Watch: Does the “War of Nature” Lead Its Survivors to “Vigor, Health, and Happiness”?

Given that most people do not have advanced degrees in mathematics or the sciences, debates and discussions surrounding evolution and creationism appear in the public square in the form of competing metaphors, similes, and extended analogies. In other words, we use … Continue reading

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