Re [evo-psych] Darwin and Political Theory

Re: [evol-psych] Darwin and Political Theory
The progression of the Darwin paradigm along with the current promotion of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology often surprises me with its systematic tenacity, and organized media campaigns. There's not much you can do to stop the steamroller, the more so as the left tends to be out in left field somewhere on the subject of evolution. 
They won't get away with it in the end, so why worry, but it saddens me to watch the casualties among scholars, witness the book below. I have not read this text so I will  comment on what I can infer from the various blurbs, quite a lot. I intend to track this one down, since, despite walzing down the pike oblivious to any problems with Darwinism, it seems to have some points of interest. 
But one must lament the false eduction going on causing this waste of fine scholarship. The rise of modern political philosophy is being cashiered, witness the number of attacks on Rousseau a la E..O. Wilson (always the tell tale clue), 'made scientific', but it is a rich subject whose place in relation to science is something these secondrate peddlers of Darwinian scientism seem incapable of. 
I hope this verdict is not applicable to this book. Kant's Challenge was to find the emergent character of a world historical trend to the (perfect) civil constitution, cf. his essay Idea for a Universal History. This riddle, along with Kant, have long since be factored out of discourse. 
Darwinian politics ought to be a known poison, with skull and crossbones, given its true legacy of mayhem, genocide, social Darwinism, the legacy of Darwin's dangerous goof. 
It will soon be a respectable subject, at least at Weekly Standard.  
A careful look at my Kant's Challenge might alert anyone to be wary of trying to derive a thesis of politics from Darwin's theory without taking into consideration some very deep problems with the methodology of evolutionary psychology. 
Noone, of course, will listen, and everyone simply proceeds to this finite units of paradigm extension that are easy as piecework, fill in the gaps in the 'worldview', but don't realize how far off the mark Darwin's theory really is on the descent of man. 

Check out Kant's Challenge, http://eonix.8m.com/kant.htm

This reply could not be posted at evo-pscyh

> Bookmarks
>
> DARWIN AND POLITICAL THEORY
> by Denis Dutton
>
> Review of Darwinian Politics
> by Paul Rubin
> Rutgers University Press, 2002
>
> In the 1970s, during the oil crisis, B. F. Skinner suggested a way that
> the United States's energy shortage could be alleviated. People
> should be rewarded, he argued, for coming together to eat in large
> communal dining halls, rather than cooking and eating at home with
> their families. His reasoning was irresistible: large cooking pots have a
> lower ratio of surface area to volume. There would be therefore a
> considerable saving in energy in massive public kitchens, compared
> with numberless small individual pots cooking in private kitchen stoves
> across the nation.
>
> Of course, Skinner must have known his idea would have to
> overcome objections based on ingrained middle-class prejudices. Some
> parents would feel aggrieved: placing children before big communal
> pots would rob mothers of the pleasures of preparing foods and
> feeding their own offspring. Others might object that the only foods
> adequate to a big, round energy-efficient vessels are stews or soups; they
> might complain about endless boiled fare. Families of one ethnic
> background or another might dislike the relatively uniform diet,
> despite the hearty, nutritious goodness of stew. I can imagine Skinner's
> frustration: Why are people so stubborn? Why can't they look beyond
> minor details and see the sheer reasonableness of the proposal?
>
> Full text: 
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evolutionary-psychology/files/duttonreview.pdf

Darwinian Politics: The Evolutionary Origin of Freedom (Rutgers Series on Human
Evolution)
by Paul H. Rubin
Paperback: 256 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.63 x 9.38 x 5.88
Publisher: Rutgers University Press; ; (August 2002) ISBN: 0813530962
AMAZON - US
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813530962/darwinanddarwini
AMAZON - UK
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0813530962/humannaturecom

From the Back Cover

Darwinian Politics is the first book to examine political behavior from a
modern evolutionary perspective. Here, Paul H. Rubin discusses group or social
behavior, including ethnic and racial conflict; altruism and cooperation; envy;
political power; and the role of religion in politics ? issues that have formed
the hallmark of human social behavior.
Adopting a Darwinian perspective, Rubin demonstrates why certain
political-moral philosophies succeed or fail in modern Western culture. He
begins by showing relationships between biology and natural selection and the
history of political philosophy and explains why desirable policies must treat
each person as an individual. He considers the notion of group identity and
conflict, observing a human propensity to form in-groups, a behavior that does
not necessitate but often leads to deviancies such as racism. In discussing
altruism, Rubin shows that people are willing to aid the poor if they are
convinced that the recipients are not shirkers or free loaders. This explains
why recent welfare reforms are widely viewed as successful. Envy, a trait that
is often counterproductive in today's world, is also addressed. In comparing
major moral philosophical systems, Rubin contends that utilitarianism is
broadly consistent with our evolved preferences. He illustrates evolutionary
premises for religious belief and for desires to regulate the behavior of
others, and how in today's world such regulation may not serve any useful
purpose.

Ultimately, Rubin argues that humans naturally seek political freedom, and
modern Western society provides more freedom than any previous one. In light of
his analysis, the author extrapolates that, while there are still areas for
improvements, humans have done a remarkably good job of satisfying their
evolved political preferences.

About the Author
Paul H. Rubin is a professor of economics and law at Emory University. He is
the author of Managing Business Transactions: Controlling the Costs of
Coordinating, Communicating, and Decision Making, and Promises, Promises:
Contracts in Russia and Other Post-Communist Economies.

I wanted to post this at evo-psych, but I am barred from the list, natural selection cannot be questioned there. 


John Landon
http://eonix.8m.com
http://blog.transeonix.com
Beta Project for
World History & Eonic Effect
2nd Edition
http://eonix.8m.com/2nd_ed/intro1_1.htm