THREE
The EquivocationInfectsthe Intellectuals
TheConsequencesof Hofstadter’s Equivocation
As an outgrowthof the misconceptionsaboutsocialDarwinism,mainstreamintellec-
tualsignorantlyidentifythe aimsof HerbertSpencerandWilliamGrahamSumnerand
Inventive-Periodindustrialistswiththoseof government-enforcedeugenicists.Neocon-
servativepoliticalscientistFrancisFukuyama,for instance,firstappliesthe socialDar-
winismlabelto HerbertSpencer^1 in his 1992bestsellerThe End of Historyand the Last Man,
andthento KarlPearsonandthe state-implementedeugenicsmovementten yearslater
withOur PosthumanFuture.^2 In 1999Fukuyamapejorativelyreferredto “socialDarwinist
theoriesof racialandethnichierarchy.”^3 Thenin 2011Fukuyamablared,“Spencersaw
humansocietiesas engagingin a competitionfor survival,in whichsuperioronescameto
dominatetheirinferiors.Non-Europeansocietieswereones whosedevelopmentwas
stuntedor arrested.Indeed,developmentaltheoryin the immediatepost-Darwinianperi-
od succeededin justifyingthe existingcolonialworldorder,withnorthernEuropeans
occupyinga placeat the top of a globalhierarchythat stretchedthroughvariousshadesof
yellowand browndownto blackAfricansat the bottom.”^4
Adding to this, biochemist and renowned science-fiction author Isaac Asimov
thundersthat“Spencerianthoughthad its effecton history,for duringthe decadesprior
to WorldWarI, it gaveextremenationalistsand militaristsa chanceto speakof war being
‘good,’ sinceit insuredthe survivalof thosemostfit.”^5 “Spencerianthought” inspired
mento “speakof war being‘good’”? IsaacAsimovshouldhavebotheredto readchapter
21 of Spencer’sSocialStatics. Hadhe doneso, he wouldhavedetectedthatSpencer
pennedthe followingwords:“Unquestionablywar is immoral.”^6 Spenceralso verbalized,
“To me the cry—‘Ourcountry,rightor wrong!’—seemsdetestable.”^7 In the periodof 1842
to 1843Spencerpenneda seriesof articlesclarifyingthat insofaras “we remember... the
horrorsof battle,” we mustacknowledgethatsuchare to be avoided.He recommended
thathis ownnationtakethe leadin abstainingfromany militaryinvasions.“Neverneed
we expectto see all nationsabandonwarat the sametime.Onemustleadthe way.Let
Englandbe thatone.Let Britainfirstholdup the fair flag of peace.” Othernationswould
followthe Britishlead,and “appealto armswouldbecomeless and less frequent.. .” He
prettymuchlaidout his positionon the subjectin enumeratedpoints,whichI quote
below:
- Thatwar is a greatevil,and that the fact of its exclusionby a proposeddefinition,is
a powerfulargumentin favourof that definition.
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