Evolution and racism (was ICR and its slurs)
David Campbell (bivalve@isis.unc.edu)
Mon, 19 May 1997 11:13:49 -0400Glenn Morton cited an ICR list of "creationists" historically prominent in
science: >"The most eminent scientists of the nineteenth century were the
great
>physicists, Lord Kelvin (1824-1907) and Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), along
>with the great biochemist and bacteriologist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895). In
>addition to their numerous key scientific contributions, they were vigorous
>opponents of evolutionism, as were such great scientists as the mineralogist
>David Brewster(1781-1868), the geologist Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), the
>German pathologist Rudolph Virchow (1821-1902), the entomologist Henri Fabre
>(1823-1915), and many others.
I'm a bit puzzled as to how they chose people to include; Kelvin
calculated ages for the earth up to tens of millions of years (based on
premises now known to be invalid), and Agassiz was famous for showing the
glacial origin of many geologic features previously attributed to the
Flood. "Creationist" appears to be a much more inclusive term applied to
the past than to the present.
It should be noted that evolution defined as simply a biological
process doesn't provide any moral evidence without some metaphysical
assumptions. The metaphysical statement "What promotes my evolutionary
fitness is morally acceptable" does justify racial discrimination. If I
can promote those who look like me at the expense of those who don't, I'm
probably increasing the proportion of my genes relative to theirs.
Consistent application of this premise would give me no grounds to complain
if "they" did the same to me, nor to claim that my race was better. It is
also true that racism has often been "justified" by evolution. I've seen a
1940's textbook with Africans intermediate between gorillas and Caucasians.
On the other hand, assuming that evolution is a process that has been used
by God allows condemnation of racism.
George Murphy wondered about the origin of racism. I don't know an
exact point of origin, but one contributing factor was the Spanish versus
Moor conflict (lower classes had intermarried, upper aristocracy [white
skin making veins visible, hence "bluebloods"] had not). Racism certainly
existed by the time of such early evolutionary ideas as Buffon's-he
suggested degenerative evolution as the origin of other races, though it
was also likely to happen to Europeans who moved to the unhealthy climates
of distant lands.
David Campbell
"Old Seashells"
Department of Geology
CB 3315 Mitchell Hall
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill NC 27599-3315
919-962-0685
FAX 919-966-4519
"He had discovered an unknown bivalve, forming a new genus"-E. A. Poe, The
Gold Bug