Hunting Down Social Darwinism Will This Canard Go Extinct

76 Chapter 3

fromthe Britishislandsand NorthAmerica.... The racismof Fiskeis hardlydistinguish-
ablefromthe genocidalracismof Hitlera few generationslater.”^169 It is a hugeleapto
compareFiske’s passageto the Holocaust.In reality,Fiskeis talkingaboutfree migration.
In his vision,undera peacefulglobalregime,Englishpeoplewouldmigrateto other
landsand intermarrypeaceablywiththoseotherlands’ inhabitants.
It cannotbe deniedthat,as a consequenceof the Enlightenmentperiod’s prestige,a
numberof racistsin the nineteenthcenturyattemptedto disguisetheirirrationalpreju-
dicesby employingthe vernacularof science.Thatracistsexploitedscientific-sounding
terminologyto providea pretenseof credenceto theiremotionalism,though,doesnot
demonstratethe Enlightenmentto be culpablefor the racism.For instance,wereMr.
Nobodyto put on a flimsyplasticHalloweenmaskdepictingMr. Celebrity,and wereMr.
Nobodythento go on a killingspree,it wouldbe irrationalto say Mr. Celebrityunder-
tookthe murders.Yet the principleis similarwhensomeoneattributesthe atrocities
committedin the nameof governisteugenicsto the Enlightenment.As StevenPinkerputs
it, “Theideathatthe Holocaustwasa productof the Enlightenmentis ludicrous,if not
obscene.”^170
No, AbrahamFoxmanandEvanSayet,the Enlightenmentdid not contributeto the
Holocaust,nor did thoseDarwinianswhoappliedsecularEnlightenmentphilosophyto
the socialsciences—SpencerandSumner.Nonetheless,the situationgrowsmoreatro-
ciousin considerationof anotherfact.It is thatthe sameProgressive-Eraintellectuals,
whomleft-wingwritershavevalorizedas opponentsof socialDarwinismandeugenics,
wereusuallythe peoplewhomostenthusiasticallycampaignedfor eugenicistlegislation.
Onesuchhistoricalfigurewasthe botanistturnedsociologistLesterFrankWard.We
haveexaminedthe philosophiesof varioushistoricalfigures,andshallcontinuethat
procedureon him.For Ward,we go forward.

NOTES

1. Fukuyama1992,68; and Fukuyama1999,74.


2. Fukuyama2002,27, 85.


3. Fukuyama1999,74.


4. Fukuyama2011,50.


5. Asimov 1964 paperback,70-71.For otherexamplesof ignorantattemptsto tie Spenceror free-
   marketeconomicswithgovernmenteugenics,see Corballis1991,15; Degler1991,ix, 11–15, 69; B. Fried-
   man2005,122–26; Ravitch2000,27, 76; M. Roach2005,108-110;and E. O. Wilson1998,182-84.


6. Spencer1851,pt. 3, ch. 21, sec. 8, para.1, accessedonlineFriday,April20, 2007.


7. Qtd.by G. H. Smith1978,14-18;and G. H. Smith1991-K,247.


8. Spencer1981f,214–17. See Letter5, para.5, 6, 8, accessedonlineWednesday,January11, 2012.


9. Spencer1981f,261. Thatis Letter12, para.3, accessedonlineWednesday,January11, 2012.


10. Carnegie1886,323.


11. Spencer1851,pt. 2, ch. 16, sec. 3, para.1, accessedonlineMonday,November7, 2011.


12. Spencer1851,pt. 3, ch. 28, sec. 2, para.1, accessedonlineMonday,November7, 2011.


13. Ekirch1974,209–210.


14. B. Werth2009,257–58.


15. B. Werth2009,43–44, 306.Ibid., 44–45, goeson to statethat Schurzwas racistin that he believedthat
    nonwhiteraceswerecongenitallyless civilizedthanwhites,and thathe thereforebelievedthatDomini-
    canswouldneverassimilatewillinglyintothe USA’s constitutionalrepublicansystemof government.
    Sucha beliefon Schurz’s partis indeedconsistentwiththe genetic-deterministtheoriesof eugenicists,but
    thatdoesnot underminemy purposein bringingup Schurz.Theaccusationof IsaacAsimovandthe
    academicLeftis thatagreementwithHerbertSpencer’s socialtheorieswillnecessarilyleadsomeoneto
    supportWesternimperialism.Thataccusationis refutedby the fact that Schurz’s veryintentin opposing
    Westernimperialismwasthathe wishedto applySpencer’s socialtheoriesin a logicallyconsistent
    fashion.


16. Hofstadter1959,195.


17. Sumner1969-C,295, 269, 278–282, 285, 287.


18. G. Hodgson2004.