Social Darwinism: Right or Wrong

[Ben Davis]

Usually what is meant by Social Darwinism is to leave those in need to their own devices. If they're weak, they'll perish; if they're strong (smart enough, resourceful enough, or whatever) they'll survive. Humanity and society will be improved by letting the unenterprising and unhealthy die off before they can breed. Vinny is taking it a step farther into actually advocating radical eugenics.

Thanks for the summary Mister Agenda. So I was on the right lines with my statement regarding a false dichotomy. Of course evolution doesn't work that way in reality; we observe that the more complex the neurology &/or sociology, the greater the likelihood for altruism. It's almost as if evolution 'knows' that protecting as much life as possible will mean better survival rates!

This is a million miles away from the idea that evolution automatically means 'letting the weakest die'; although there's plenty of animal life for which existence is short & brutal, to overlay that evolutionary state on the human condition is a gross oversimplification and demonstrates limited empathy & ethical thinking, too. Possibly sociopathy.