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Title	Author	Date
"Darwinian ideas"	Scharle, Tom	Apr 23, 2008
This article says, "Once again, no one is arguing that Darwinian ideas did not play a role in Hitler's philosophical outlook." Is there any evidence that "Darwinian ideas" did play a role in Hitler's outlook? "Darwinian ideas" would be ideas which are original with or distinctive about Charles Darwin. Ideas such as common descent, speciation, or natural (as distinguished from directed, purposeful, or artificial) selection. These ideas seem to have been matters of ignorance, indifference, or were indeed opposed by the various social/political movements of the early 20th century which were closest to Hitler's outlook. I would be interested in any evidence for "Darwinian ideas" being a factor in Hitler's outlook.
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Title	Author	Date
'Darwinian ideas'	TalkReason ,	Apr 23, 2008
Dear Tom: The Talk Reason team does not share the particular thesis in Professor Andrea Bottaro's post which you point to. In our opinion, no "Darwinian ideas" have had any role in the canniballistic outlook and the horrible deeds of the Nazis. Our policy is, though, to post essays of various authors without editing them. In this particular case, knowing the views of the post's author, we think the sentence you quote was not very appropriately chosen by Bottaro and may create a wrong impression of what his overall thesis is. Even less does this unfortunate sentence reflect the overwhelming opinion of historians, as certainly there are many highly qualified historians who disagree with this particular point in Bottaro's otherwise fine post. We'll forward your letter to Andrea Bottaro. Talk Reason
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