The Science of Modern Virtue: On Descartes, Darwin, and Locke

13 - Logon Didonai the Case of the Darwinian Conservative

LoGon DiDonai tHe Case of tHe Darwinian ConserVatiVe Paul Seaton wIth DR. LARRY ARNhARt, A NeW foRM of thoUGht and, perhaps, of life has emerged among us. As such, it elicits wonder and calls for consideration. As thoughtful life, it possesses more interest for me, a Socratic, than the appearance of a new star. Moreover, as a form of thoughtful life, it is self-aware and it can talk. It has even named itself. It is a hybrid, it is “Darwinian Conservatism.” Moreover, it is a form of life and thought on a mission; it is animated by missionary zeal. for example, within the past year or so it traveled to China, where it instructed and exhorted adherents of Confucianism to become Darwinian Confucians. After that it repaired to Georgia, where it attempted to do the same with Aristotelians. As this globe trotting indicates, it is convinced of its truth and of its goodness for humanity. Therefore, while in Darwinian terms this new form of thought wants to propagate itself, in more standard religious terms, it wants to announce its glad tidings of reconciliation, teach sound doctrine, and form human beings and communities more or less after its image and likeness. As such, it bears comparison with other forms of missionary life going back to St. Paul. Therefore it is of interest to me as a Catholic. 13 Logon Didonai 283 It is at this juncture, though, that I must note another feature of this way of life and draw a self-protective inference. To state matters directly: this form of life and thought is dangerous to be around; it is a lightning rod, regularly attracting bolts of criticism from various quarters and throwing its own bolts in return. One runs the risk of being struck, singed, scorched, or even fried by being in its vicinity. My inference from this, put in the language of my religious communion, is Caveat proximus, caveat specialiter criticus. Let those in the vicinity beware, especially the critic. This danger is near-nigh unavoidable, though. This apparently militant form of thought is enlisted in a great struggle; it is a participant in our culture wars. Its self-designation, Darwinian Conservatism, indicates as much. On one hand (the conservative hand), it does battle with those Darwinians —and with others whom Arnhart calls “the Left”—who think that Darwinism has progressive entailments, that man can make and remake himself and society as he desires or sees fit. Not so, retorts the Darwinian Conservative. We have evolved as humans and we are hardwired a certain way, so that certain progressive hopes and projects are contra naturam. Darwin himself, for example, was quite pro-traditional family, he laid great stress upon the mother-child bond and its all-important role in human socialization and in humanization tout court. Darwinism rightly understood also recognizes and legitimates politics and even war as essential features of the human scene; it resists any pacific transpolitical hopes we, or progressives, might entertain. And, rightly understood , Darwinism also recognizes the human need, desire, or instinct for religious faith and practice (although, truth be told, it also places certain strictures on these). In these ways and others, the Darwinian Conservative maintains that Darwinism is the friend and (here the pun is irresistible, but also meaningful) the natural ally of conservative moral commitments and public policy options. (The pun is significant because Arnhart takes his view of Nature and the natural as normative, as the chief evaluative yardstick for morality as well as religious belief and practice, not to mention political and economic life.)1 Therefore, conservatives, says the Darwinian Conservative, should get over their animosity toward Darwinism and see it properly, for what it is. While not a member of the believing fold (an important segment of the sometimes fractious conservative coalition), Darwinism is an ally in contemporary battles. It is particularly valuable because it has the­credi­bility of science behind it, one of the modern world’s few acknowl- 284 Paul Seaton edged authorities. As a Darwinian conservative, you can be credible, contempo , and conservative at the same time. A nice trifecta. Here, too, however (that is, among conservatives), the Darwinian Conservative ’s ambition has been regularly frustrated. Rather than gratefully receiving his benevolent offer, all too many conservatives, especially religiously minded ones, have refused it and have turned on him in critique and in real or apparent hostility. Hence, the reciprocation...