The apocalypse of Darwinism?

John C. from Boston writes:

I have been following the discussions at VFR concerning Darwinism.

Has there occurred a discussion at VFR concerning any relationship between Darwinism and a society based on liberalism? If and when Darwinism falls, what biological underpinnings can a liberal society have to maintain itself in a non-transcendental mode?

Is there a relationship between the apocalypse of Darwinism and the apocalypse of liberalism?

When the engine of Darwinism comes to fail as a satisfactory explanatory paradigm and filter for the majority of people, can liberalism sustain itself as an ideology when its predominant theory of origins collapses?

LA replies:

> Is there a relationship between the apocalypse of Darwinism and the apocalypse of liberalism?

Now that’s an interesting question. I think you’re right. Since Darwinism is the keystone of the materialist reductionist modern view, once Darwinism is rejected, material reductionism will lose its sway over modern society and there will be an openness to the transcendent again, which will be reflected in culture (no more “Piss Christs,” no more exhibits showing corpses or what human bodies look like without skins), in education, in manners, in dress, in popular entertainment, in politics (which has tended to reduce man and society to the economic—consider the immigration issue), and thus even in our sense of national identity.

> When the engine of Darwinism comes to fail as a satisfactory explanatory paradigm and filter for the majority of people, can liberalism sustain itself as an ideology when its predominant theory of origins collapses?

I would say that modern liberalism, which reduces everything to the self and to personal preferences and needs, will lose its sway. Though perhaps an older, less reductionist form of liberalism might make a comeback.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 08, 2006 12:21 AM | Send