Discuss the ideas of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer that influenced Hitler's racist ideology. (3 Marks)
Answers
Social Darwinism broadly declined in popularity as a purportedly scientific concept following the First World War and was largely discredited by the end of the Second World War, partially due to its association with Nazism and partially due to a growing scientific consensus that it was scientifically groundless.Later theories that were categorised as social Darwinism were generally described as such as a critique by their opponents; their proponents did not identify themselves by such a label.Creationists have frequently maintained that social Darwinism—leading to policies designed to reward the most competitive—is a logical consequence of "Darwinism" (the theory of natural selection in biology).Biologists and historians have stated that this is a fallacy of appeal to nature, since the theory of natural selection is merely intended as a description of a biological phenomenon and should not be taken to imply that this phenomenon is good or that it ought to be used as a moral guide in human society.While most scholars recognize some historical links between the popularisation of Darwin's theory and forms of social Darwinism, they also maintain that social Darwinism is not a necessary consequence of the principles of biological evolution.