# Should Society be Darwinian? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 2, 2012, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-society-be-darwinian/642749 "2012-12-02T08:28:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 6
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2012, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-society-be-darwinian/642749/6 "2012-12-02T09:07:58Z")
> [@supery00n](#): > > If humans are animals, and if Darwinian evolutionary theory correctly explains the diversity and modification of species over time, then does it not follow that opposition to Social Darwinism, which is the application of Darwinian biological evolution to the particular case of our own species, either at the positive or normative level, implies opposition to biological Darwinian theory itself? No. First, as said that’s not what Social Darwinism is; Social Darwinism is a political attempt to cash in on the prestige of Darwinism, and to distort them for profit. And second evolution is a description of how things work, not how they should work; you don’t have to deny how things are to want them to be better. > [@supery00n](#): > > Also, do you think it is accurate to describe unregulated capitalism as “economic Darwinism,” or do you think that this label is misleading or unhelpful; i.e. makes a false analogy? It’s not very accurate, because corporations are controlled by humans, who are self-interested intelligent creatures capable of foresight, planning and cooperation. They can and will game the system to make a profit, or simply to preserve their jobs; they aren’t going to just let some “unfit” corporation they are working for collapse out of some abstract dedication to Darwinian fitness. > [@supery00n](#): > > Finally, do you think that in general, society becomes more “humane” by moving away from or toward the concepts of Darwinism, biologically speaking. In other words, can the more or less direct application of biological Darwinism in the social sphere of things _ever_ be “humane,” or will such an attempt, in your opinion, no matter how well-intentioned, lead to atrocities/negative social outcomes? It depends on what you apply it to. Treating ideas or organizations as expendable things to be judged and kept or discarded on how well they do is ones thing; treating human beings that way is another. Consider a subset of society, science; scientists put theories through a selection process to determine their “fitness” (aka test them to see if they fit the facts) and discard the ones that fail, something roughly analogous to natural selection; they don’t shoot scientists whose theories fail the tests, however. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-society-be-darwinian/642749)._