Hunting Down Social Darwinism Will This Canard Go Extinct

54 Chapter 3

Sumner’s staunchanti-imperialismis the same“Spencerianthought” thatAsimov
accusesof rationalizingwar and conquest.Sumneris, of course,incorrectto assumethat it
is inherentlydetestablefor a freercountryto introducegreaterliberalizationon a penuri-
ous dictatorshipthroughmilitarymight,againstthe consentof the majorityof personsin
the overthrowndictatorship.I alreadyarguedagainstSumner’s positionin BookTwo.
Whatis relevanthereis the injusticein howthe Lefthas depictedthispeacenikas an
apologistfor Westerncolonialism.Interestingly,GeoffreyHodgsonwrites,“Despitetheir
supportfor capitalistcompetition,” SpencerandSumner“wereanti-militaristandanti-
imperialist,”^18 as if thatweresomesortof internalcontradictionon the partof Spencer
andSumner—as if supportingthe Ruleof Peacenormallyspurssomeoneto becomea
warmonger.
InInventingAmerica, DanielKevlesandhis scholarlycoauthorsdo admitthat“many
socialDarwinistswereanti-expansionists.. .” Nevertheless,thesescholarsstill attemptto
destroythe reputationsof antiwarlaissez-faireistsby remarkingthat such“socialDarwin-
ists” opposedexpansionism“becausetheyfearedadding‘inferior’ racesto American
society.. .” Andbesides,add the PC scholars,lots of othersocialDarwinistsdid support
imperialism.^19 In otherwords,if a conservativeright-wingersupportscolonialism,these
scholarsdenouncehimas a racist.On the converse,if a conservativeright-wingerop-
posescolonialism,thesescholarssurmisethatthis mustbe because... this conservative
right-wingeris a racist.

Don’t ConfuseThemwithSocialDarwinists

Regrettably,Asimov’s insultsappeartamein comparisonto thosethatastrophysicist
CarlSagan(1934–1996)casts.Saganwarnsabouthow

the Darwinianinsightcan be turnedupsidedownandgrotesquelymisused:Voracious

robberbaronsmayexplaintheircutthroatpracticesby an appealto SocialDarwinism;

Nazisandotherracistsmaycall on “survivalof the fittest” to justifygenocide.But

Darwindid not makeJohnD. Rockefelleror AdolfHitler.Greed,the IndustrialRevolu-

tion,the freeenterprisesystem,andcorruptionof governmentby the moniedare ade-

quateto explainnineteenth-centurycapitalism.Ethnocentrism,xenophobia,socialhier-

archies,the longhistoryof anti-Semitismin Germany,the VersaillesTreaty,German

child-rearingpractices,inflation,andthe Depressionseemadequateto explainHitler’s

rise to power.Verylikelytheseor similareventswouldhavetranspiredwithor without

Darwin.AndmodernDarwinism[i.e.,sociobiologyor evolutionarypsychology]makesit

abundantlyclearthatmanylessruthlesstraits,somenot alwaysadmiredby robber

baronsand Fuhrers—altruism,generalintelligence,compassion—maybe the key to sur-

vival.^20

I resentthat distortion.I referto howSaganmorallyequatesJohnD. Rockefeller,Sr., with
Nazis.Sadly,this sameequivocationmanifesteditselfin a ratherwell-knowncontrover-
sy. Thatcontroversycameto the forewhenHarvardentomologistand left-wingenviron-
mentalistEdwardOsborneWilsonbroughtnewpopularityto the burgeoningscientific
fieldof sociobiology,nowmorewidelyknownas evolutionarypsychology.^21 Thisis the
sameevolutionarypsychologyI discussedin BookTwo.In the 1970sWilsonandother
sociobiologistssoughtto applybiologyto the socialsciencesto discoverwhichmodern
socialpractices,institutions,andcustomscouldbe at leastpartiallyexplainedby what
scientistscurrentlyknowaboutevolution,genetics,psychiatry,and neurobiology.
As expected,a numberof professorsrecognizedthatHerbertSpencer,WilliamGra-
hamSumner,andthe eugenicistshadalreadytakenuponthemselvesthatsamemission
of applyingevolutionarytheoriesto the socialsciences.HencethosePC professors,in-