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Social Darwinism

Social Darwinism holds that the principle of the "survival of the fittest" applies to human ethics and politics just as it does to biological evolution. Social Darwinism extends from Charles Darwin's 1859 Origin of Species in which the theory of evolution was set forth.

Herbert Spencer, an agnostic English philosopher known as one of the leading Social Darwinists of the 19th century, believed the only way to gain knowledge was through science. He felt that belief in God was useless and worked to replace the theological systems of culture with that of his philosophical system which said that science was the only way to gain useful knowledge. One of Spencer's books, Synthetic Philosophy, applied the "survival of the fittest" thought to all branches of knowledge including biology, psychology, sociology and ethics. His works are still being utilized in today's most prestigious universities. Spencer's textbook Study of Sociology is used at Yale and his Principles of Psychology can be found in Harvard classrooms. The transformation of universities with Christian roots and purposes like Yale and Harvard into "godless" institutions, is just a mirror of what has also happened in our society.

Not surprisingly, Spencer also stressed learning through sensory experience in schools. The student had to interact within his environment in a slow, inductive process. He believed that education should have very few restrictions and strongly opposed memorization and recitation. A student should only engage in those activities that would ultimately allow him to survive in society. The social sciences were the most important areas of development while English grammar and literature were believed to be outdated.

Education today continues to be influenced by Spencer's Social Darwinism theories. Social subjects like multiculturalism, sex education, DARE and self-esteem programs all take focus and time away from education basics like reading and math. In a system in which God doesn't exist like Social Darwinism, the burden of teaching social issues and values to children falls on the elite, the most educated and knowledgable, not the parents.

Eugenics Movement

In 1900 the founder of racial hygiene in Germany, Dr. Alfred Ploetz, participated in an essay contest sponsored by a wealthy industrialist. The contest asked, "What can we learn from the principles of Darwinism for application to inner political development and the laws of the state?" A colleague of Dr. Ploetz, won the contest by suggesting the promotion of laws that would prevent white races from degenerating to the level of other ethnic groups. Dr. Ploetz and his colleagues saw the Caucasian race as superior and saw Jews, among other groups, as inferior based on their Social Darwinism views.

The principle of eugenics, or improving the human species through controlled hereditary factors was originated by Francis Galton, an English psychologist and half-cousin of Darwin. In 1905, Dr. Ploetz founded the Society for Racial Hygiene, the beginning of Germany's eugenics movement. Dr. Ploetz went so far as to suggest that a panel of doctors be present at the birth of each child to judge whether the child was fit to live, and if not, the child would be killed. We now see some of today's doctors wanting to "play God" in similar ways.

Planned Parenthood

Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, figured prominently in the American eugenics movement. In Birth Control Review, which Sanger founded in 1917, she published such articles as "Birth Control and Positive Eugenics" in 1925 and "Birth Control: The True Eugenics" in 1928.

According to Robert G. Marshall and Chuck Donovan in their book Blessed are the Barren, Sanger is clearly shown to have been a proponent of the Nazi-like eugenics movement, which sought to improve the human race through selective breeding. This application of Social Darwinism justified the twisted idea of evolutionary superiority to promote sterilization and population control.

Sanger spoke of sterilizing those she designated as "unfit," a plan she said would be the "salvation of American civilization." Sanger also spoke of those who were "irresponsible and reckless," among whom she included those "whose religious scruples prevent their exercising control over their numbers." Sanger decried the fact that "anyone, no matter how ignorant, how diseased mentally or physically, how lacking in all knowledge of children, seemed to consider he or she had the right to become a parent."

Not only was Sanger an advocate of eugenics, so were many of her colleagues. For example, at a March 1925 international birth control gathering in New York City, a speaker warned of the menace posed by the "black" and "yellow" peril. The man was not a Nazi or Klansman; he was Dr. S. Adolphus Knopf, a member of Sanger's American Birth Control League, which along with other groups eventually became known as Planned Parenthood. Perhaps supporters of Planned Parenthood would be less enthusiastic if they knew of the beliefs of its founder, Margaret Sanger and her colleagues.

Racial Supremacy

The ideas of racial supremacy and the survival of the fittest race reached it's zenith with the National Socialist party of Nazi Germany. In his book, Mein Kampf or "My Struggle," Adolf Hitler shares his views of Social Evolution. He writes, "The Jews formed a sub-human counter race, predestined by their biological heritage to evil, just as the Nordic race was destined for nobility."

Hitler, however, can't take full credit for these warped thoughts. The notions of racial superiority were written earlier by Freidrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche, who is most famous for his "God is dead" philosophy, adapted Darwin's ideas and promoted a "superhuman" or "super-race" philosophy. He took the idea of natural selection and suggested that warfare, eugenics and the merciless extinction of inferior races was appropriate.

Germany not only exterminated Jewish people in the name of racial purity, but also used forced sterilization on the physically and mentally handicapped, and murdered infants with similar handicaps. Estimates of how many disabled people died under the Nazis range up to 250,000. One must wonder how the roots of the "survival of the fittest" philosophy have affected world conflicts including the atrocities in Kosovo, Somalia and Sudan.

Rocky Mountain Family Council

8704 Yates Drive, Suite 205

Westminster, CO 80031

(303) 292-1800

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