Anti-science and creationist rhetoric, coming from organizations like the Discovery Institute, often paints Darwin as handmaiden to the Nazis and founder of racist biology. The eugenics movement of the early twentieth century is uncritically melded with Darwin’s writings that touched on race, and the genetic determinism of certain aspects of modern biology is uncritically melded with Darwinian theories.
I’m giving a talk this weekend for the Minnesota Atheists that will address Darwin’s racism (or lack thereof) and explore the relationship between concepts of race and racism and evolutionary biology of Darwin’s day as well as that of the twenty-first century.
Darwin was a nineteenth century gentlemen who benefited greatly from his position in a world colonial empire, but it was his exploration of that world that led him away from religious dogma and soured him on certain racist concepts. He was the founder of much of the theory that was later to be used in rather nefarious ways, but those uses were never based on good biology. This talk will directly address the relationship between modern biology and modern race theory.
This will be at 2:00 at the Roseville Public Library on Hamline Avenue, following the Minnesota Atheists business meeting. After the meeting, we will dine at nearby Panda Garden Buffet. Please join us!
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I’ve mentioned this title before on Pharyngula, but I think it’s worth mentioning again, here at The X Blog, in light of this post.
Steven Selden wrote an excellent book published in 1999 entitled Inheriting Shame: The Story of Eugenics and Racism in America. The books is about the eugenics movement specifically in relation to education policies and practices in the United States.
One of the things that Selden does particularly well, especially in the latter part of the book, is talk about the moral failings of eugenics and also why eugenics was bad science. The book highlights the eugenics movement’s many failings, including but not limited to failures to examine evidence, failure to control for critical variables, drawing false conclusions, development of deeply flawed experimental designs, inculcating an insular environment that uncritically affirmed its own “findings,” statistical misrepresentations and miscalculations, procession from false assumptions, and other ways in which the eugenics movement abandoned the scientific method.
Among the pernicious legacies of the eugenics movement is contribution to the “mad scientist” cultural meme that encourages suspicion of science because history includes examples of people who claimed scientific affiliation and also perpetrated grave ills on human beings, societies, and environments.
Thank you for your work on this subject, and I hope the talk goes well. In addition to examining fascinating content, I hope your presentation will help add a little bit to the rainfall of reason and critical thinking necessary to slowly erode the stone wall of anti-science rhetoric and sentiment.
Still learning,
Robert
What kills me is that racists so often identify with Creationists et al. Hedxplody.
I’d like to attend, but Roseville is a long way from L.A. Maybe you’ll report on what you said?
Greg, will this talk be available for listening/viewing?
I don’t know. Mn Atheists tend to tape the talks, but I’m not sure about this particular venue.