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Flame » in reply to A thought experiment from Peter Singer

Re: You might be making this too complicated.
ER — (archived)

My take on social Darwinism is the use of principles of natural selection to justify certain types of human behavior. "We are stronger/fitter/swifter, therefore we are entitled to survive." Another example might be to use natural ecosystems as metaphors for human societies, so that features of those ecosystems can be proposed as desirable characteristics for our communities. I.e., "rain forests and coral reefs are healthy ecosystems so we should run our societies along the same lines."

But strength, adaptation and speed are not necessarily the indicators of a worthwhile human being any more than the jungle should be the model for civilization. Even Neanderthals took care of their injured, their aged, and buried their dead with reverence.

As for competitiveness, let's just say I feel cooperation to be more important.

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