It may not have been well understood but it has been practiced for thousands of years. Darwin discusses it in Origin of Species. I was pointing that humans selectively breeding based on what they perceive to be superior traits is very different from natural selection. Therefore the Nazis were not applying evolutionary principals.
You are 100% wrong on this - probably because you don't understand evolution so its not your fault. Quick lesson: Evolutionary theory teaches us that the way to ensure that a species has the best chance to thrive and survive is through the genetic diversity present in a population, and that we can never be certain as to which traits will turn out in the future to be most conducive to survival. Eugenics effectively breeds out diversity - therefore it is anti-evolution. any questions?
S-P: I think that the problem here is with terms 1. Social Darwinists thought they were at the top of the ladder, therefore eugenics naturally came from them, Margeret Sanger from Planned Parenthood devised that program to help rid America of undesirables 2. early SD's did not understand evolution as such, I think Charles Darwim may not have understood it correctly, being he did not have access to electron microscopes & other modern gadgets & techniques
So the main thrust of the movie is bullshit. OK. I mean, have you checked out what the ID folks are claiming ?! You can't sneak that stuff into peer-reviewed journals of actual science - sure there's a conspiracy against it: it's called requiring rigor and logical consistency. It's a virtue. Anyone who thinks they are at the top of some kind of ladder is badly confused about evolutionary theory. Any parasites you have are further up the evolutionary ladder than you are - just for one example. And then to top it off, some of them tried to exterminate the most successful demographic group they had in their civilization - that doesn't even make sense from the Social Darwinist perspective.
Nah, Social Darwinism is a legit theory of Sociology. The only discredit I can think of is the fact that it makes generalizations about groups of people (this is common in sociology), whereas the evolutionary Darwinist theories for nature are backed by more 'scientific' observations of creatures less complex than humans.
legit socialogical theory or not - its one commonly held by people in the religious right - listen to Limbaugh, Fallwell, Hagger, etc some time - they are all social darwinists
I suppose so. Hitler was a big fan of Social Darwinism. I myself also place a lot of value on Social Darwinism, but I still vandalize and steal from churches every other weekend.
Perhaps - certainly Hitler, Limbaugh and Falwell etc would get along like a cross on fire - err I mean house on fire good on yer