Robert M. Young Online Writings
The Darwin Debate 33k
1982 was the centenary of Darwin's death, and everyone was (as they still are) claiming his legacy as the foundation of their particular world view. Marxists are particularly prone to do this, since there is a tradition of 'Scientific Marxism' stemming from the Second International to which the orthodox adhere, and Marx and Engels had a lot to say about Darwinism. I took this opportunity to write in a Communist Party periodical to say, somewhat mischievously, that socialists might have just as much in common with religious fundamentalists as they do with reductionist scientists, in that socialists are not wedded to fatalism in human affairs, something the religious claim, too. I also tried to show that there are a number of facets to the debate about humanity's place in nature and that one has to keep one's wits about one and not merely defer to scientists. The essay appeared in Marxism Today 26 (no.4), April 1982, pp. 20-22.