Author: Richard Weikart
At Emory University, Consternation over Ben Carson, Evolution, and Morality
The idea that evolution undermines objective moral standards is hardly a recent discovery of sociobiology.
Rallying to Darwin’s Defense: Robert J. Richards and the Historical Record
Richards argues that “Darwinian evolutionary theory held no special place within the community of biologists supportive of National Socialism…and officials in that party utterly rejected Darwinian theory.”
Where the “Science-Religion” Dichotomy Came From
Most theistic evolutionists use this dichotomy to try to insulate religion from scientific and historical critiques. Of course, it also removes religion from the realm of reality.
Can Darwinists Condemn Hitler and Remain Consistent with Their Darwinism?
Applying Darwinian insights to morality is not distorting the theory at all (as it would be for someone to draw moral implications from relativity theory). Rather, it is explicitly part and parcel of Darwin’s own theory of human evolution.
Can Ruse’s View of Ethics Save Us from Hitler?
[Editor’s Note: Historian Richard Weikart is featured prominently in the just-released DVD, “What Hath Darwin Wrought?” exploring the painful history of Social Darwinism in Germany and America from the twentieth century to the present. To purchase a copy or find out more information about this documentary, visit www.whathathdarwinwrought.com.] Michael Ruse recently criticized my work in From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, which examines the way that evolutionary ethics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries undermined Judeo-Christian views of ethics, especially the sanctity-of-life ethic. Ruse opposes my claim that evolutionary ethics as proposed by Darwin and other evolutionists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries exerted a powerful influence on Hitler’s ideology. Given Read More ›