On Social Darwinism

Cross-posted from the Th!nk3 blog here

Social Darwinism is the theory that applies Darwin's ideas of evolution to human social structures. The basic premise is that, like competition between different species, those who overcome struggle to prosper and reproduce are the ones most fit to survive and should be rewarded, while those who do not are not meant to survive and deserve no help. This kind of philosophy is behind ideas ranging from free market capitalism to conservative opposition of unemployment and welfare benefits to Nazism and Aryanism.

Proponents of this school of thought tend to ignore Darwin's ideas on an important aspect of survival of the fittest: competitive advantage - the aspect which affords a species greater survivability. Darwin argued that it was human's ability to cooperate (facilitated by our capacity for language) that was our competitive advantage and that allowed us to populate the most diverse and hostile regions of the globe. It has been our cooperation that has allowed our population to increase to such great numbers (whether this is really a good thing is debatable, but in terms of species survival and genetic variability it is beneficial) and to accomplish such enourmous feats as space travel.

I felt I needed to bring this up because it serves as an important reminder to us in the competition of why we're doing this, and to everyone else that we're all in this together. I see divisiveness growing throughout the world, from the Islamophobia that has flared up in America again, to the lack of aid reaching Haiti and Pakistan, to the international climate negotiation debacle, and it is up to us to remind our leaders what the world truly needs from them.

The English poet Albert Pine said, "What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others and the world remains and is immortal."