Darwinism and The problem race

In his popular article, Professor James M. Foard analyses the philosophical and historical implications of Charles Darwin theory of evolution. One of the issues examined by Professor Foard is nothing less than Darwin's understanding of race in the evolutionary process of man. It is interesting that Darwin's own racial presuppositions and bias exhibit clearly his thought of a "superior" race, which he apologetically defendded. The following quotations confirm this very fact:

He who wishes to decide whether man is the modified descendant of some pre-existing form, would probably first enquire whether man varies, however slightly, in bodily structure and in mental faculties; and if so, whether the variations are transmitted to his offspring in accordance with the laws which prevail with the lower animals

Finally, it may not be a logical deduction, but to my imagination it is far more satisfactory to look at such instincts as the young cuckoo ejecting its foster-brothers, ants making slaves, the larvae of ichneumonidae feeding within the live bodies of caterpillars, not as specially endowed or created instincts, but as small consequences of one general law leading to the advancement of all organic beings--namely, multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die

-He wonders if a "race war" would be beneficial to mankind

"The enquirer would next come to the important point, whether man tends to increase at so rapid a rate, as to lead to occasional severe struggles for existence; and consequently to beneficial variations, whether in body or mind, being preserved, and injurious ones eliminated. Do the races or species of men, whichever term may be applied, encroach on and replace one another, so that some finally become extinct?"

dreams of a future for mankind when the black races of man, as well as the mountain gorilla of Africa, will hopefully become extinct, thus enhancing the chances for the evolutionary advancement of the more "civilized" races of man

-also states that both blacks and Aborigines occupy a sub-species between white Caucasians and Baboons

-he did not observe that they were "endangered species", he encouraged extinction

"At some future period, not very distant as measured by centuries, the civilized races of man will almost certainly exterminate, and replace, the savage races throughout the world. At the same time the anthropomorphous apes, as Professor Schaaffhausen has remarked, will no doubt be exterminated. The break between man and his nearest allies will then be wider, for it will intervene between man in a more civilized state, as we may hope, even than the Caucasian, and some ape as low as a baboon, instead of as now between the Negro or Australian and the gorilla."

-states that he will describe the differences between the sub-species (races) of man

"It is not my intention here to describe the several so-called races of men; but I am about to inquire what is the value of the differences between them under a classificatory point of view, and how they have originated."

-then gives opinions from both sides of the debate

-likens the terms "sub-species" and "race"

"Some naturalists have lately employed the term "sub-species" to designate forms which possess many of the characteristics of true species, but which hardly deserve so high a rank. Now if we reflect on the weighty arguments above given, for raising the races of man to the dignity of species, and the insuperable difficulties on the other side in defining them, it seems that the term "sub-species" might here be used with propriety. But from long habit the term "race" will perhaps always be employed. The choice of terms is only so far important in that it is desirable to use, as far as possible, the same terms for the same degrees of difference"

Finally Professor Foarm provides the final summary of Darwin's primary racist viewpoints:

1-Humans are divided into sub-species
2-The strongest live and the weakest die, which is good (Hitler and Marx agreed)
3-The sub-species are not simply variants
4-A "race war" would be beneficial to mankind
5-Blacks and Aborigines occupy a sub-species between Apes and Caucasians
6-The extinction of blacks and gorillas to advance the white "race" is good
7-Sub-species are also known as races
8-Different sub-species have different characteristics, such as mental capabilities
9-Irish are also non-Aryan and should be extinct
10-Europe doesn’t owe any ancestry to the Greeks
11-It would be good if a wealthy nation replaces a less privileged race
12-Christianity is a damnable doctrine, and Hitler agreed saying it is a rebellion against nature
13-Social Darwinism includes imperialism, racial extermination and sexual inequality and Darwinism was intended to explain society as a whole
15-"lower class" races should not normally be cared for; they should not multiply and should become extinct.

Sometimes I do have difficulty to agreeing with those who defend Darwin's christian faith.