Natural Selection And The Nation

摘要

"There is apparently much truth in the belief that the wonderful progress of the United States, as well as the character of the people, are the results of natural selection," wrote Charles Darwin in The Descent of Man. Today, such a claim jars, and not just because of the grammar. But the wonder is that Darwin so infrequently over-extended his evolutionary explanations. Not so his English contemporary, Herbert Spencer, who attempted to give an evolutionary account of almost every realm of human affairs. Ruminating on history, psychology, sociology and ethics, Spencers evolutionary philosophy led him to argue that, among other things, government regulation was bad, the poor and needy should be left to fend for themselves, and the United States was destined to become the pinnacle of civilization. These ideas fell on fertile ground, particularly in the United States, and Spencer was hailed there as the brightest, most insightful man of his generation.