Re: [asa] Celebrating Darwin's Errors

I would agree that Darwin gets too much attention and credit in some
ways. Though his basic concept of evolution was largely correct as
far as we can tell, he did not know a lot of things that we have
today. Again, there is a tendency to hunt out anything Darwin said on
a particular topic. While it's good to try to search out previous
work and give due credit, an understanding of how evolutionary biology
actually works is best built on the latest work and ideas.
(Understanding the religio-socio-political mess that evolutionary
biology is entangled into, however, must involve the history of the
ideas.)

> I'd like to just mention two errors mentioned in the paper, which may not
> be that interesting for people on this list, yet as a human-social
> scientist, they are indeed significant. First, "ranking races biologically."
> This move established Darwin's linkage with civilizational racism,
> hierarchical-cultural discrimination based on his assumption of moral
> evolution.

On the other hand, common descent of all humans from a common ancestor
(which is of course also a traditional Judaeo-Christian view) clashes
with the idea that human races have entirely separate origins, a view
closely tied with many more traditional versions of racism. For his
day, Darwin was generally progressive in his views on race, e.g.,
opposing slavery. It is true, however, that nothing inherent in
biological evolution forbids racism, though a modern ateleological
understanding of biological evolution would rule out any claims to
scientific support for the moral superiority of one race (or social
class or whatever) over another. (Biology can tell us that members of
certain ethnicities are better at tanning or digesting milk as adults
or other quantifiable traits, but not that some are better in value
than others. Even if my genes are lousy for the general well-being of
humanity (e.g., carrying a genetic disease), my evolutionary
self-interest is to promote them, and biology can't say that I ought
to not spread them.)

> The skinheads who are condescending upon (and sometimes
> attacking) the foreigners of Asian and African descent in the city where I
> now live are applying such an ideology in their present day views.

On the other hand, racist views without evolutionary background are
widespread (such as those promoted in some versions of black Islam or
much of the historical racism in the U.S.)

> Those who attempt to strongly separate Darwin from social Darwinism are likely to be
> surprised by Allchin's open recognition of the links.

Michael Ruse argues that the Origin of Species did a good job of
separating biology from the social, etc. claims, but that Huxley,
Spencer, and others seized on evolution as a way to advance their own
social agendas (including social Darwinism). In turn, this strongly
influenced Darwin's Descent of Man.

There are two questions, however:
1) Did Darwin's work and/or Darwin himself play a role in the
historical development of such views?

2) Is that integral to biological evolution or not? What is the
relationship-legitimate use, illegitimate use, compatible but not
inherent, etc.?

> Second, "Darwin overstated the role of competition." In today's discussion
> of evolutionary biology, from the small part I read of it, there doesn't
> seem to be much discussion of 'struggle for life' or 'competition-ism,' yet
> this was clearly part of Darwin's ideology.

Both competition and cooperation are important in modern
understandings of evolution-the relative roles vary, and they often
provide alternative routes to the same goal of evolutionary success.
Darwin's inspiration from the economic model of early laissez-faire
capitalism (which benefitted him) did tend to neglect the cooperative
components. But biological evolution cannot justify my taking a
Machiavellian approach to competing with someone any more than the law
of gravity justifies my dropping heavy things onto people.

-- 
Dr. David Campbell
425 Scientific Collections
University of Alabama
"I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"
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