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by RHSeeger 9 days ago
> I do not think learning about evolution (and we should credit Wallace too!) had that effect. It created a hierarchy of the fittest, and guess who is at the top? Social Darwinism interpreted it as justifying elaborate hierarchies.

I don't think that's accurate at all. Before Darwin, the thought was "we are special, we were born special, we were CREATED special". Darwin made it clear we weren't created special... we were apes before we were humans. There's nothing _special_ about a human as compared to an ape, other than some time to change.
1 comments
graemep 8 days ago
"For you are dust, And to dust you shall return."

There were many beliefs before Darwin. Spontaneous generation was a commonly accepted theory. Augustine of Hippo suggested life was created as a potential.

The other problem with "were were created special" is that so was everything else, including beings superior to humans (angels).

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