I couldn't agree more, A-G.
In between appointments today I heard Dennis Prager interview Charles Murray about his new book, "Human Accomplishment." Murray argues that the unprecedented achievements in the arts and sciences over the last 500 years happened because of specific elements of the civilization of the West that came into being during the Renaissance and Reformation, most of which Christianity is responsible for, such as the value placed on the individual human being, that there is such a thing as good, both ethically and qualitatively, and our belief that we have one shot at accomplishing something in life. He blames the cultural decay that began to set in about 150 years ago for the awfulness in the arts and the slower pace of discovery in the sciences.
Your observation that mathematics and physics seem least affected by this is interesting because although I am not a scientist, my outsider's observation is that those disciplines seem most vigorous and most immune from the effects of social darwinism and kindred ideas.
I need to get that book.
The really great things about mathematicians and physicists (IMHO) are that (a) they accept the results no matter how inconvenient, (b) they follow the leads even when they'd rather not and (c) the absence of evidence is evidence of absence.
Your observation that mathematics and physics seem least affected by this is interesting because although I am not a scientist, my outsider's observation is that those disciplines seem most vigorous and most immune from the effects of social darwinism and kindred ideas.
That immunity is a good thing. I think I'll need to get that book too, if only as a companion to my copy of Jacques Barzun's "From Dawn to Decadence: 500 years of Western Cultural Life."