Sep 17, 2020 09:23 PM
(This post was last modified: Sep 18, 2020 02:43 AM by C C.)
Cynical Sindee: After all those centuries and legends of supposedly fighting off dogmatic religious and mystical foes in displays of scholarly valiance... Is science now a potential pushover when it comes to secular moral trends? Are the ideological prescriptions and supervisory conspiracies of the laic, militant part of society now exposed as the Achilles heel of methodological naturalism? Was it just a matter of needing the right kind of emotional outrage and humanities preaching to convert even atheist researchers to tolerate the witch-hunting of historical and contemporary key figures, and in their guilt and shame finally bend over themselves to allow suppository control devices to be inserted?
Will Darwin be canceled?
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2020/09/1...-canceled/
EXCERPT (Jerry Coyne): Given the scientific and political luminaries who have fallen under the axe, it’s not beyond possibility that Charles Darwin himself may undergo a “reevaluation,” with people discovering what we already knew: Darwin, like many people of the mid-19th century, had some bigoted views of whites (i.e., Brits) as a superior race. Yet Darwin never did anything but write a bit about it in The Voyage of the Beagle and The Descent of Man, and was, to boot, an ardent abolitionist along with his wife’s family, the Wedgewoods. Josiah Wedgewood, Darwin’s grandfather (and also his wife Emma’s), designed this ceramic medallion that was popular among abolitionists as early as 1787. That may be enough to save Charles but, as we know, one misstep can cancel you for keeps. And Darwin made more than one—according to today’s lights.
[...] Noah Carl concludes that if there’s a valid case for dethroning people like Hume, Galton, Fisher, and Linnaeus for their “retrograde” views on race and white superiority, then you can make an equally compelling case against Darwin. Well, in principle you could, especially if you’re not overly fastidious about viewing the entirety of his views and actions. But I don’t think this will happen. Carl also concludes—and I agree—that the “defenestration” of figures like those mentioned above is not warranted unless you’re willing to cancel Darwin as well. As we discussed yesterday, morality advances, and if your views were the “received wisdom” of those in an earlier time, you become much less culpable than if you expressed them now... (MORE - details)
RELATED: Edinburgh University 'cancels' David Hume after Black Lives Matter protests
Will Darwin be canceled?
https://whyevolutionistrue.com/2020/09/1...-canceled/
EXCERPT (Jerry Coyne): Given the scientific and political luminaries who have fallen under the axe, it’s not beyond possibility that Charles Darwin himself may undergo a “reevaluation,” with people discovering what we already knew: Darwin, like many people of the mid-19th century, had some bigoted views of whites (i.e., Brits) as a superior race. Yet Darwin never did anything but write a bit about it in The Voyage of the Beagle and The Descent of Man, and was, to boot, an ardent abolitionist along with his wife’s family, the Wedgewoods. Josiah Wedgewood, Darwin’s grandfather (and also his wife Emma’s), designed this ceramic medallion that was popular among abolitionists as early as 1787. That may be enough to save Charles but, as we know, one misstep can cancel you for keeps. And Darwin made more than one—according to today’s lights.
[...] Noah Carl concludes that if there’s a valid case for dethroning people like Hume, Galton, Fisher, and Linnaeus for their “retrograde” views on race and white superiority, then you can make an equally compelling case against Darwin. Well, in principle you could, especially if you’re not overly fastidious about viewing the entirety of his views and actions. But I don’t think this will happen. Carl also concludes—and I agree—that the “defenestration” of figures like those mentioned above is not warranted unless you’re willing to cancel Darwin as well. As we discussed yesterday, morality advances, and if your views were the “received wisdom” of those in an earlier time, you become much less culpable than if you expressed them now... (MORE - details)
RELATED: Edinburgh University 'cancels' David Hume after Black Lives Matter protests