A common criticism of evolutionary theory by those who seek to discredit it is that its selective mechanism of ‘survival of the fittest’ inevitably leads to racism and eugenics. Darwin was a passionate opponent of slavery (which he referred to as “that greatest curse on Earth”), and he applied his theory to demonstrate that all human beings were of one species and one ancestry — countering prevalent opinions about differing origins and racial superiority. Nonetheless, evolution denialists continue to make attempts to tar evolution by associating it with various eugenic policies and rationalizations.
The Nazis did not target the Jews because, upon examining the Theory of Evolution, it became evident to them that Jews were ‘less evolved,’ and hence inferior. The idea is patently ridiculous, and you’d require a very twisted, backward and ignorant understanding of both history and natural selection to argue such. Darwin’s explanation was distorted and abused for this purpose, as was the rest of the mythology invented to justify the Nazis’ Final Solution to an appalling question.
To suggest that the Theory of Evolution, with it’s catchphrase of ‘survival of the fittest,’ is an argument for eugenics is bogus. If, in spite of fierce competition for resources in an unforgiving environment, human beings still managed to acquire traits like compassion and cooperation, then natural selection becomes a very good reason to defend these qualities. Behavioural traits with such obvious disadvantages to a tooth-and-nail survivalist must endow their possessor with a far greater reward if it is to persist in populations.
And yet, even if one could find no support from natural selection for such ideas, it really wouldn’t matter in the slightest. One should not look to natural processes for guidance on the subject of ethics. Is in no way implies ought, and it certainly doesn’t imply mandate. Cannibalism, infanticide and incest were observed in nature long before Darwin came along, but such observations did not then cause these behaviours to become rampant in human society. We need not (and should not) make the limitations of natural selection our own.
