Darwins ideas represented a fundamental shift in how biology was understood through his introduction of the

idea of natural selection. This concept has led to numerous breakthroughs in our understanding of everything
from disease control to computer science.
Yet I would be remiss to laud Darwins theory without pointing out the fact that it has had negative impacts on
society. Social Darwinism is an application of Darwinism that has been used to bolster racist arguments.
Perhaps the most prominent example of this was the Nazi policy of eugenics executed during the Holocaust. It
is clear that like all scientific theories, the theory of evolution does not provide answers to moral questions, and
without caution, it can be grossly misapplied.
The theory of evolution is radically different than what it was when Darwin first penned it in The Origin of
Species. However, that does not lessen the magnitude of his achievement. Darwin stands as a monumental
figure in the history of science, right along with the likes of Newton and Einstein. His idea of natural selection is
the cornerstone for modern evolutionary thought, and provided a bases for scientists to better understand
biology. What is perhaps so significant about Darwins achievement is how ahead of his time he was. Without
any understanding of modern genetics3, Darwin managed to come up with the idea of inherited traits and the
mutation of these traits over time. There can be no doubt that what Darwin came up with is nothing short of
brilliant.

Darwins theory and publications had a major influence upon Nazi race policies. Hitler believed
that the human gene pool could be improved by using selective breeding similar to how farmers
breed superior cattle strains. In the formulation of their racial policies, Hitlers government relied
heavily upon Darwinism, especially the elaborations by Spencer and Haeckel. As a result, a central
policy of Hitlers administration was the development and implementation of policies designed to

protect the superior race. This required at the very least preventing the inferior races from mixing
with those judged superior, in order to reduce contamination of the latters gene pool. The superior
race belief was based on the theory of group inequality within each species, a major presumption and
requirement of Darwins original survival of the fittest theory. This philosophy culminated in the final
solution, the extermination of approximately six million Jews and four million other people who
belonged to what German scientists judged as inferior races. Of the many factors that produced the
Nazi holocaust and World War II, one of the most important was Darwins notion that evolutionary
progress occurs mainly as a result of the elimination of the weak in the struggle for survival
Economic
in capitalist economies, order emerges not from the efforts of any central planner but from the actions of many
independent agents in a market. Some businesspeople choose to produce product x and others choose to
produce product y. Consumers choose whether to buy x, y, neither, or both. In the end, some products sell
while others do not. The businesspeople producing the former flourish while those producing the latter perish.
Surprisinglyagain, we are perhaps too familiar with the phenomenon to appreciate how counter-intuitive it is
this relentless and messy competition gives rise to the order that we find in the economic world. No one
person or agency plans how many pencils must enter my home city, Rochester, New York, to supply its
residents; the market ensures that the right number arrives.
prices represent the mathematical heart of economics: without them the fundamental theorems of welfare
economics are unavailable, and efficient allocation of resources cannot be expected. Given the central role of
market prices in economics and the absence of their analog in Darwinism, the similarities between economics
and biology may be close enough to suggest metaphors but perhaps not enough to sustain a theory (or,
presumably, to justify an economic order).