It's that time of the year when I traditionally
observe the birthday of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, who were born on
February 12, 1809.
As I have indicated in previous years, I see at least
six points of similarity between Darwin and Lincoln.
(1) Both saw the universe
as governed by natural laws, which included the natural laws for the evolution
of life. (2) Both were accused of denying the Biblical doctrine of Creation. (3)
Both spoke of God as First Cause. (4) Both appealed to the Bible as a source of
moral teaching, even as they also appealed to a natural moral sense independent
of Biblical religion. (5) Both abhorred slavery as immoral. (6) Both were moral
realists.
I have elaborated some of these points here and here, which include links to even more posts on the Lincoln-Darwin connection.
The Austrian economist Eugen Bohm-Bawerk was also born this day.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was also the birthday of Leon Kass, who could probably also be said to share these six points of similarity with Lincoln and Darwin.
ReplyDeleteBrendan,
ReplyDeleteCould you elaborate?
Some of my earliest reading of Darwin was in a graduate class at Chicago taught by Kass.
One of my colleagues mentioned to me yesterday that Kass, together with Darwin, Lincoln, and Ray Kurzweil all share the February 12 birthday. So I didn't really have a big point to make other than noting that little coincidence of moral philosophy and birthdate.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I think Kurzweil would only share about half of those six points, so I guess the coincidence only goes so far.
But Darwinism is not consistent with Lincoln's embrace of the Declaration of Independence -- there is no equality of human beings in rights or in dignity for Darwinians. Larry's wishful thinking lies in linking Darwin and Lincoln -- domination of the weak by the strong is Darwinian, not Lincolnian. If Darwin himself abhorred slavery, then he was inconsistent with his own teaching -- his moralism contradicted his naturalism. Let's be more honest here.
ReplyDelete