[r9etb]

but no one seems to recognize the absurdity of blaming the Holocaust on Charles Darwin. In this sense, I would have to say that the author's use of reductio was highly effective.

Yours is an absurd comment, too -- it goes much too far. Consider: while Marx or Lenin are not "to blame" for the carnage wrought by Stalin or Mao, one cannot deny that ideas of Marx and Lenin played an important role in what happened later. To say otherwise is to suggest that ideas don't have consequences.

"Well, yes," you might respond, "but Marx just wrote an unreadable book. He is not the fellow who starved several million Kulaks to death." True -- and Darwin is not the fellow who invented Social Darwinism. But in the case of Darwin, as with Marx, there is a specific logic to their ideas which lends itself to the sort of misuse (if it is misuse...) that later occurred.

[steve-b]

But in the case of Darwin, as with Marx, there is a specific logic to their ideas which lends itself to the sort of misuse (if it is misuse...) that later occurred.

Cowardice and illogic all in one sentence. How very efficient of you.

[Dimensio]

But in the case of Darwin, as with Marx, there is a specific logic to their ideas which lends itself to the sort of misuse (if it is misuse...) that later occurred.

In what way can a description of events in biological systems be "misused"?