I love it when you think you’re having a decent, rational conversation, and then suddenly the one participant goes full Godwin.
I was watching a live debate between a Christian pastor and an atheist. The conversation had begun with a discussion on the origins of the universe and of life, specifically about evolution. Later the topic turned to morality, and how we can account for moral absolutes. The atheist denied the existence of moral absolutes and admitted that, for him, morality seems subjective but that there was a common theme in all morality—the necessity of behaving in ways that encourage cooperation from our fellow beings.
At this, the pastor pounced. “What about Hitler? How can we say that he is wrong? Isn’t it just survival of the fittest? How could it be wrong to use your power to overcome others?”
I chuckled. Aside from this being the least original argument ever, it fails spectacularly. When I heard it, I thought, “So…, how’s that working out for Hitler?” How did Hitler fare in obtaining cooperation from the rest of the world? Seems to me he got his butt handed to him in short order. Shouldn’t that factor into the assessment?
You want to use evolutionary metaphors for morality? Okay, how is Nazi philosophy doing? It may not have gone extinct yet, but it certainly is on the endangered list. It survives now by hanging around the fringes of civilization’s camp, latching onto the weak and the sick. It certainly isn’t the king of the jungle, is it?
Natural selection dealt pretty harshly with Hitler. National Socialism wasn’t an evolutionarily successful strategy. Inadvertently, the pastor had isolated an example that neatly proved the atheist’s point. Our species survives best when it cooperates, and any social species that relies on cooperation will develop moral behaviors. As creationists often do, the pastor mistook what it means to be “fittest” from an evolutionary perspective. What’s fittest isn’t always the strongest or the most ruthless. Other qualities such as altruism, courage, community and cooperation can send the strong and violent predators running.
This isn’t unique to humans, either. We see it in nature as well. Cooperation trumps strength. Want to see it in action? I leave you to examine a video called “Battle at Kruger.”