03 Aug '14 12:49>
Charles Darwin once wrote in the Descent of Man:
"With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their own kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but expecting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.
The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, if so urged by hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of the patient, but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with a certain and great present evil. Hence we must bear without complaining the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely the weaker and inferior members of society not marry so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased through this is more to be hoped for than expected, by the weak in body or mind refraining from marriage."
As we see here, Darwin is conflicted. He sees that "the weak" are bringing society down through their genetics as well as time and expense to care for them. He even uses the term "evil". This is very interesting coming from a man who rejected the Bible and embraced science as his Bible. This is a man who once said, "A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affection, - a mere heart of stone."
Darwin seems to be saying that caring for the weak weakens the human race, but at the same time, helping them is noble. He then resolves this conflict within him by saying that at least the weak should not be allowed to reproduce.
How many agree with Darwin?
"With savages, the weak in body or mind are soon eliminated; and those that survive commonly exhibit a vigorous state of health. We civilized men, on the other hand, do our utmost to check the process of elimination; we build asylums for the imbecile, the maimed, and the sick; we institute poor-laws; and our medical men exert their utmost skill to save the life of every one to the last moment. There is reason to believe that vaccination has preserved thousands, who from a weak constitution would formerly have succumbed to small-pox. Thus the weak members of civilized societies propagate their own kind. No one who has attended to the breeding of domestic animals will doubt that this must be highly injurious to the race of man. It is surprising how soon a want of care, or care wrongly directed, leads to the degeneration of a domestic race; but expecting in the case of man himself, hardly any one is so ignorant as to allow his worst animals to breed.
The aid which we feel impelled to give to the helpless is mainly an incidental result of the instinct of sympathy, which originally acquired as part of the social instincts, but subsequently rendered, in the manner previously indicated, more tender and more widely diffused. Nor could we check our sympathy, if so urged by hard reason, without deterioration in the noblest part of our nature. The surgeon may harden himself whilst performing an operation, for he knows that he is acting for the good of the patient, but if we were intentionally to neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with a certain and great present evil. Hence we must bear without complaining the undoubtedly bad effects of the weak surviving and propagating their kind; but there appears to be at least one check in steady action, namely the weaker and inferior members of society not marry so freely as the sound; and this check might be indefinitely increased through this is more to be hoped for than expected, by the weak in body or mind refraining from marriage."
As we see here, Darwin is conflicted. He sees that "the weak" are bringing society down through their genetics as well as time and expense to care for them. He even uses the term "evil". This is very interesting coming from a man who rejected the Bible and embraced science as his Bible. This is a man who once said, "A scientific man ought to have no wishes, no affection, - a mere heart of stone."
Darwin seems to be saying that caring for the weak weakens the human race, but at the same time, helping them is noble. He then resolves this conflict within him by saying that at least the weak should not be allowed to reproduce.
How many agree with Darwin?