Between ideology and science
By Shlomo Avineri
When “The Origin of Species” was published, Engels wrote Marx with quite a bit of satisfaction about the way it confronted traditional theological views. Marx, however, was much more skeptical, and wrote: “Darwin rediscovered his English society among animals and plants, with its division of labor, competition, the opening of new markets, ‘inventions’ and ‘battles for survival’… That is Hobbes’ version of all-out war …”
This shows that to Marx, Darwin’s theory was an “ideology,” just cloaking political and social worldviews in science, and was therefore far from pure “scientific truth,” which purports to be free of such views.
Marx also foresaw the danger to the social sciences in adopting Darwinism: Translating the latter’s worldview into the social sciences (i.e., “social Darwinism”) would legitimize capitalist competition, ostensibly based on the natural sciences, in which only the fittest and most efficient survive.
Moreover, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, adaptations of social Darwinism served as ostensibly scientific justification for racism and the rule of “superior” groups over “inferior” ones. Indeed, Aryan racism and the concept of the inferiority of the so-called Jewish race were based on such interpretations of social Darwinism, which also served spawned theories of eugenics, some of which saw horrific implementation by the Nazis.
Darwin, of course, is not responsible for how some of his disciples used his theories. However, precisely in the context of the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of his birth – justified in and of themselves – the dark potential of his approach should be recalled. Furthermore, it should be remembered that it was Marx, of all people, who recognized the relationship between Darwinism and capitalism.