Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Let's Talk About Our Feelings!!! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Win Smith who wrote (108366)	9/14/2005 11:29:20 AM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108807

Okay, here is how I see "Preservation of Favoured Races" I think you are correct that in "Origins" the subtitle meant species, breeds, etc. (The question remains as to why he chose "races" for the subtitle, since he does not seem to use that word very much in the text). Darwin mentioned in "Origins" that this was his first exposition of natural selection theory, and that there was more to come. His next work, "Descent of Man," in two volumes, explicitly applied evolution theory to the human race. In that exposition, Darwin was very racist by modern standards. As the quotation I sent you shows, he expected that survival of the fittest would eventually exterminate the inferior races. He even questioned whether whites and blacks could be considered the same species, eventually concluding that they were (somewhat grudgingly, it seems to me). So we have no way of knowing what was in the man's mind when he subtitled "Origins," but we do know that he did believe that the European whites were a "favoured race." Indeed, "Preservation of Favoured Races In the Struggle for Life" would have made a perfect subtitle for "Descent" with the human meaning. Virtually all whites in the 19th century were racist by our standards today, and that fact alone should not invalidate scientific discoveries that they made, including the theory of evolution. On the other hand, evolution remains a theory, with proponents and opponents. "The punctuated equilibrium" theory proposed by Gould supports evolution, but is starkly different from Darwin's conception of gradualism. So there is legitimate controversy as to how evolution theory should be presented in classrooms. One question is whether, if "Origins" is presented to young learners, we should also present Darwin's ideas of how it applied to the human race in "Descent." Darwin's ideas in "Descent" would be quite offensive, such as his graphic characterizations of "savages," and yet what justification is there for presenting part of his theory and censoring out other parts?