From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics and Racism in Germany

312 Pages·2004·31.63 MB·English

by  Richard Weikart (auth.)

From Darwin to Hitler

From Darwin to Hitler ~
Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and
Racism in Germany
Richard Weikart
palgrave
macmillan
* FROM DARWIN TO HITLER
© Richard Weikart
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 15t edition 2004 978-1-4039-6502-8
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in
any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case
of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published 2004 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLANTM
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PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the
Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin's Press, LLC and of Palgrave
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in the European Union and other countries.
ISBN 978-1-4039-7201-9 ISBN 978-1-137-10986-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-10986-6
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wei kart, Richard, 1958-
From Darwin to Hitler: evolutionary ethics, eugenics, and racism in
Germany / by Richard Weikart.
p. cm.
Includes references and index.
1. Eugenics-Germany-History. 2. Ethics, Evolutionary.
3. Racism-Germany. 4. Germany-Race relations. I. Title.
HQ755.5.G3W435 2004
305.8'00943-dc22 2003065613
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd, Chennai, India.
First edition: May 2004
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Transferred to digital printing in 2008.
Contents
~
Illustrations Vll
Preface IX
Introduction
1. Laying New Foundations for Ethics 19
1. The Origin of Ethics and the Rise of Moral Relativism 21
2. Evolutionary Progress as the Highest Good 43
3. Organizing Evolutionary Ethics 59
2. Devaluing Human Life 71
4. The Value of Life and the Value of Death 73
5. The Specter ofInferiority: Devaluing the Disabled
and "Unproductive" 89
6. The Science of Racial Inequality 103
3. Eliminating the "Inferior Ones" 127
7. Controlling Reproduction: Overturning Traditional
Sexual Morality 129
8. Killing the "Unfit" 145
9. War and Peace 163
10. Racial Struggle and Extermination 183
4. Impacts 207
11. Hitler's Ethic 209
Conclusion 229
Notes 235
Bibliography 279
Index 305

Illustrations ~
1.1 "Ape-like" Italian criminal 39
6.1 Frontispiece of Haeckel's Natiirliche Schopfongsgeschichte 107
6.2 Pithecanthropus alalus 109
6.3 Cover of Der Brummer magazine 125
10.1 Spaniards' dogs mauling Indians 190

Preface
&:::8
I
became fascinated with the topic of evolutionary ethics while doing
research for my dissertation, Socialist Darwinism: Evolution in German
Socialist Thought from Marx to Bernstein (published in 1999). Little
did I suspect the course my study would take. While examining Darwinian
discourse in Germany, I found that many Darwinists believed that
Darwinism had revolutionary implications for ethics and morality, provid
ing a new foundation for ethics and overturning traditional moral codes.
Intrigued by these ideas, I intended at first merely to describe and analyze
the development of evolutionary ethics in Germany and elsewhere.
However, as I began to read the writings of Ernst Haeckel and other early
Darwinists, my focus shifted to a specific field of ethics-what is today
called biomedical ethics.
One cause for this shift was my study of Ernst Haeckel's works, in
which-to my surprise-he advocated infanticide for babies having certain
kinds of disabilities. Second, I discovered that many German eugenicists
wrote essays and passages in their books on how to apply Darwinism to
ethics. I had not initially intended eugenics to play an important part in
this study, but I could not avoid it-leaders of the eugenics movement were
some of the most prominent promoters of evolutionary ethics.
Last, but certainly not least, James Rachel's book, Created from Animals:
The Moral Implications ofD arwinism (Oxford, 1990), stimulated my think
ing. Rachel's argument that Darwinism undermines the sanctity of human
life and his support for euthanasia seemed remarkably similar to some of
the ideas I encountered in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century
Germany. Rachel's book-together with what I already knew about the
views of Haeckel, some social Darwinists, and eugenicists-suggested
to me a new question to explore: Did German Darwinists use Darwinian
theory to undermine the traditionally held doctrine of the sanctity of
human life? To pose the question a different way, what did Darwinism-or
at least influential proponents of Darwinism-have to say about the value
of human life? As I framed the question in this way, other issues relating to
life and death emerged naturally, especially war and racial conflict.