Flunked, Not Expelled: Not Even David Springer Buys the Darwin-Leads-to-Hitler Rhetoric
Over on William Dembski’s “Uncommon Descent” weblog, there is an uncommon moment of dissent as weblog moderator David Scott “DaveScot” Springer actually disagrees with weblog owner Dembski over the “Expelled” argument that Darwinism was a necessary element for Nazi genocidal policies. Springer has engaged the claim with a number of criticisms and is not, so far, backing down. I usually wouldn’t have anything positive to report about Springer, so I think that when I do, I ought to take advantage of that.
Do my eyes deceive me?
#45 – DS admonishing a poster for quote-mining?
#50 – DS advocating the right to free speech irrespective of the content?
I just went to have a look. Wow. I’m surprised and impressed. Davescot’s latest post on the nature of Darwin’s connection with eugenics is straightforward, accurate, and to the point.
I would would be proud to host that post on my own blog, without any rewording or qualifications. Totally unexpected, but there you go. Excellent post by Davescot on the subject. In fact, I’m linking to it: A complete Darwin quote with a brief translation, by Davescot at Uncommon descent (20 April 2008). Hope the link is okay.
Credit where credit is due.
Although not original, his point is nevertheless bang on. If we wish to condemn ‘Darwin’ or ‘Darwinism’ as somehow logically proscriptive, then we must do the same for ‘Einstein’ and ‘Einsteinism’, or for the New Testament and the Inquisition..