In tracing the history of Darwin's accomplishment and the trajectory of
evolutionary theory during the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, most scholars agree that Darwin introduced blind mechanism
into biology, thus banishing moral values from the understanding of
nature. According to the standard interpretation, the principle of
survival of the fittest has rendered human behavior, including moral
behavior, ultimately selfish. Few doubt that Darwinian theory,
especially as construed by the master's German disciple, Ernst Haeckel,
inspired Hitler and led to Nazi atrocities. In this collection of
essays, Robert J. Richards argues that this orthodox view is
wrongheaded. A close historical examination reveals that Darwin, in more
traditional fashion, constructed nature with a moral spine and provided
it with a goal: man as a moral creature. The book takes up many other
topics--including the character of Darwin's chief principles of natural
selection and divergence, his dispute with Alfred Russel Wallace over
man's big brain, the role of language in human development, his
relationship to Herbert Spencer, how much his views had in common with
Haeckel's, and the general problem of progress in evolution. Moreover,
Richards takes a forceful stand on the timely issue of whether Darwin is
to blame for Hitler's atrocities. Was Hitler a Darwinian? is
intellectual history at its boldest.
