The Revolt of the Unfit

Nicholas Murray Butler
11 pages (2007/1912); 147KB download
WOWIO Books; ISBN: WOWIO-00126

DESCRIPTION

Nicholas Murray Butler argues in this essay that in terms of evolution "survival of the fittest" means adapting to surrounding conditions. But many humans refuse to believe that moral considerations cannot trump the struggle for existence. "The revolt of the unfit primarily takes the form of attempts to lessen and to limit competition, which is instinctively felt, and with reason, to be part of the struggle for existence and for success. The inequalities which nature makes, and without which the process of evolution could not go on, the unfit propose to smooth away and to wipe out by that magic fiat of collective human will called legislation."