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THE "BABY DOCTOR," BENJAMIN SPOCK, ON DARWIN AND MORALITY
Institute for Creation Research ^ | February 2003 | Jerry Bergman

Posted on 02/10/2003 1:34:15 PM PST by Remedy

Yale trained Benjamin Spock, M.D., is the author of one of the bestselling nonfiction books of all time, a guide for parents titled, Baby and Child Care. First published in 1946, it has sold over 50 million copies and has been translated into 42 languages. His writings and ideas have influenced so many millions of mothers that he has been called affectionately the nation's "baby doctor" (Spock and Morgan, 1989; Bell, 1966). His influence in the world has been so profound that Dr. Spock was named one of the hundred most important people in the twentieth century by Life magazine (Maier, 1998, p. 298). He also is widely considered the most influential child care authority of the twentieth century (Britannica Year in Review, 1998).

During his long and distinguished professional career, Dr. Spock taught at several of the nation's leading institutions of higher learning, including Cornell University, the University of Minnesota, and Case Western Reserve University. Always a good student, he graduated first in his class at Columbia University Medical School (Lewkonia, 1998, p. 825). His lifelong interest in, and love for, people made him develop into an astute observer of the human condition (Philpot, 1979). His interest in this field motivated him to author a dozen books and hundreds of articles on child care and the major social problems of our age. He was active in helping humanity in numerous organizations until he died in March of 1998, a few weeks before his 95th birthday (Lewkonia, 1998; Collum, 1998).

Spock Is Introduced to Darwinism

Dr. Spock was first introduced to Darwinism at Yale University, and he referenced Darwin and his ideas several times in his books. Even in his classic work, Baby and Child Care, under the subheading, "They're repeating the whole history of the human race," Spock wrote that watching a baby grow is "full of meaning" because,

the development of each individual child retraces the whole history of the human race, physically and spiritually, step by step. Babies start off in the womb as a single tiny cell, just the way the first living thing appeared in the ocean. Weeks later, as they lie in the amniotic fluid in the womb, they have gills like fish. Toward the end of the first year of life, when they learn to clamber to their feet, they're celebrating that period millions of years ago when our ancestors got up off all fours. It's just at that time that babies are learning to use their fingers with skill and delicacy. Our ancestors stood up because they had found more useful things to do with their hands than walking on them (Spock and Rothenberg, 1992, p. 301).

Spock Recognizes the Harm That Darwinism Did to Society

Dr. Spock eventually recognized the serious harm that Darwinism had done to people's lives and to society in general (Bloom, 1972). The insight Dr. Spock gained is the story of many individuals of our time. His biographer, Lynn Bloom, stated that it was inevitable that Spock, "frustrated in his attempts to express fully his views on various social or political issues in magazine columns," would elaborate his conclusions in a book. His book, which Bloom calls "Spock's spiritual autobiography," was "the distillation of a lifetime of his varied thoughts on the problems of modern western man, Americans in particular." In this book he concluded that

man has lost his belief in himself and his sense of direction because the concepts of evolution, of psychology, and of sociology have undermined the authority of religion and man's identification with God.
They have induced man to belittle himself, to conceive of himself as merely an animal divisible into a number of mechanical parts and drives (Bloom, p. 213, emphasis mine).

In his spiritual autobiography, Dr. Spock notes that he was reared in a family "with stern morals even by New England standards." He then admitted that he tried to free himself from these strict standards throughout his adolescence and young adulthood because he believed then that a "knowledge of biology, psychology, and sociology should offer sufficient guides for a modern man." His lifetime of reading, practicing as a pediatrician, college teaching, talking with parents, and researching the problems of Western society caused him to,

come to realize that the worst problems of America-illegal war, racial injustice, unnecessary poverty, for example are caused not by lack of knowledge or means [to solve these problems] but by moral blindness or confusion (1970, p. 207, emphasis and bracketed item mine).

Table I shows the increase in some major social problems that have occurred in the past half century alone. Obviously these problems are due to several factors, a major one being the secularization of society and what Dr. Spock calls "a moral blindness." Dr. Spock concluded that this moral blindness that produced many of our modern social problems was the direct result of modern secular teachings resulting from Darwinism, Freudianism, and other humanistic philosophies. In Spock's own words, the major reason for our most serious social problems was the weakening of the influence of religion that resulted especially from the influence of Darwinism and our increasingly secular society:

The teachers in the early colonial schools and universities of the United States were predominantly Protestant ministers whose principal aim was to teach religious principles and to train more ministers, who became the next leaders of the community. . . . By the second half of the nineteenth century the discovery of evolution and the development of various behavioral sciences further weakened the authority of the churches as educators. As the need for schools and universities mounted they were established increasingly by towns and states. Now the Supreme Court has forbidden in public schools even the vaguest of prayers (Spock, 1970, p. 207, emphasis mine).

Dr. Spock realized that many of the movements with which he had once agreed had caused an enormous amount of harm in our society. As a result of his insight, he admitted that he had "come full circle, in the end, to a feeling that it is crucial, in all issues, to consider the moral dimension" when trying to solve social and societal problems (1970, p. xiii). The major source of morality in the West, he realized, was the Judeo-Christian heritage, which has been seriously undermined by Darwinism, Freudianism, and the secular humanistic philosophies taught in our schools and by society as a whole. In his words, he "grew up with the century" (Spock and Morgan, 1989).

Too Late to Do Much about These Issues

Unfortunately, Spock's insight about these issues came late in his life when there was little he could do about them. While he recognized that Darwinism was harmful, he had assumed the theory was supported by verifiable scientific facts. His own references to the alleged evidence for Darwinism have been refuted long ago. For example, we now know that almost every concept noted in the quote above from Spock's Baby and Child Care book was wrong. The theory that an embryo repeats its evolutionary history has been shown to be based on forgeries (Wells, 2000; Bergman, 1999; Frair, 1999). Furthermore, neither embryos nor fetuses have "gills like fish." Spock recognized that evolution had done much harm in society, but his belief that the evidence which supported evolutionism blocked him from doing much about the problem. This illustrates the importance of stressing current research, which shows that most of the icons used to support evolution are either outright frauds or based on extremely tenuous and debatable evidence (Wells, 2000).

Acknowledgments: I wish to thank Bert Thompson, Ph.D.; John Woodmorappe, M.A.; Clifford Lillo, M.A.; and Wayne Frair, Ph.D., for their comments on earlier drafts of this article.

References @ source url

*Dr. Bergman is on the Biology faculty at Northwest State College in Ohio.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; crevolist; evilution
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To: F16Fighter
I can tell you who won't be keynoting any Darwin Day events.
41 posted on 02/10/2003 6:22:31 PM PST by stanz
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To: Remedy
Nice work, Remedy. I see that all the Usual Suspects have rung one another up and will surely soon begin laughing and scratching. As they yabber, they bump, so all is not lost. It will be most interesting to see whether any of their comments at all relate to the content your post. The Evols are best at ridicule but will ignore substantive contrary evidence. But I'm sure you know this. Darwin ain't doin' so well these days and I'm wondering how long all these "everybody knows" hangers-on will keep darting to and fro on the deck of a sinking ship ... ;-}

Thanks for the ping.

42 posted on 02/10/2003 8:27:51 PM PST by Phaedrus
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To: ALS
I know of few that would suggest that Genesis is viewed as a trivial myth. The only people I hear talking this way are atheists, satanists, evoloonists and the ignorant.

Really? So followers of non-Judaic derived religions believe in the story of Genesis? That will come as a surprise to many Hindus...or are you saying that Hindus are either atheists, satanists, "evoloonists" or ignorant?
43 posted on 02/10/2003 11:50:58 PM PST by Dimensio
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To: Phaedrus
Yep, the ignorant fools will ignore reality and insist that the Earth never orbited Saturn.

You are aware that Remedy, aka Ted Holden, holds this view?
44 posted on 02/10/2003 11:52:25 PM PST by Dimensio
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To: Remedy
It is my opinion that evolution almost kills any religion by about 99.9% and it is extremely hard to take any of them seriosuly, but I don't think religion will be in decline anytime soon because the alternative nihilism is so unappealing. I'm sure deep down everyone knows the truth.

Morality is pretty arbitrary without fear of God. A divine daddy that punishes is a much better motivator than secular humanism. there is no reasons one can give to be good unless they want to be good. Religion is just a tool that humans used to keep order. I suppose overall it is better that people believe in religion for the good of society.
45 posted on 02/11/2003 1:50:20 AM PST by snowstorm12
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To: VadeRetro
A post that nobody who isn't a creationist will ever read!

You are a master at self-contradiction. You read it, did you not? Have you now become a creationist?

46 posted on 02/11/2003 5:57:41 AM PST by Dataman
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To: Phaedrus
It will be most interesting to see whether any of their comments at all relate to the content your post. The Evols are best at ridicule but will ignore substantive contrary evidence

Which is, admittedly, exactly what I did. I will also freely admit I didn't even read the original post. I will go on further to say I won't read the original (ridiculously long, poorly formatted) post. Why? Because, as I pointed out, once I saw the source I did what any critical thinker did and checked out the author. This is what critical minds do. It took me all of 8 seconds to notice the esteemed author received his "PhD" from a "university" that was shut down by the state of California for fraud. THE AUTHOR GOT A FAKE PHD FROM A FAKE INSTITUTION THAT WAS SHUT DOWN. That's enough for me. Doesn't that bother you at all? No matter how much you agreed with the article, I ask again, DOESN'T IT BOTHER YOU THAT THE "MORAL" CHRISTIAN CREATIONIST AUTHOR IS LYING, CHEATING, SCAMMING, AND CONNIVING?!

A deeper check into his credentials yields more murky mirth, but I won't bother you with it. It's obvious you don't care anyway.
47 posted on 02/11/2003 5:59:40 AM PST by whattajoke
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To: Remedy
Member of MENSA (requires members to be in the top 2 percent of the population intellectually)

That doesn't matter to the evos. Someone with MENSA-level intelligence is no threat to them. They themselves not only deny intelligence behind the DNA code, deny intelligence behind the order of the universe, but also deny that intelligence had anything to do with their origin-- and rightly so.

48 posted on 02/11/2003 6:07:44 AM PST by Dataman
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To: Phaedrus
. It will be most interesting to see whether any of their comments at all relate to the content your post. The Evols are best at ridicule but will ignore substantive contrary evidence. But I'm sure you know this. Darwin ain't doin' so well these days and I'm wondering how long all these "everybody knows" hangers-on will keep darting to and fro on the deck of a sinking ship ... ;-}

Well, Mr. Phaedrus, you can't very well expect them to refute an argument they cannot first undderstand, can you? Lower your expectations! After all, they (and their brains) are only here by chance.

49 posted on 02/11/2003 6:14:52 AM PST by Dataman
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To: stanz
A lot of Darwinites are like that...stopped reading because of a prejudice. The definition of a closed mind. No wonder you can't see that your Nineteenth Century belief system is outmoded by modern evidence,
50 posted on 02/11/2003 6:20:28 AM PST by metacognative
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To: whattajoke
Thanks for the bump ...
51 posted on 02/11/2003 6:30:39 AM PST by Phaedrus
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To: Dataman
Intelligent Design requires no further proof than E = mc2.
52 posted on 02/11/2003 6:36:14 AM PST by Phaedrus
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To: metacognative
... your Nineteenth Century belief system ...

Exactly.

53 posted on 02/11/2003 6:39:21 AM PST by Phaedrus
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To: Remedy
Citing Benjamin Spock as a shining example of wit and intellect gets no one any brownie points.
54 posted on 02/11/2003 6:42:34 AM PST by Chancellor Palpatine (those who unilaterally beat their swords into plowshares wind up plowing for those who don't)
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To: metacognative
A lot of Darwinites are like that...stopped reading because of a prejudice. The definition of a closed mind. No wonder you can't see that your Nineteenth Century belief system is outmoded by modern evidence.

It is a great irony that the greatest cultural century in the history of mankind--the great, wonderous wave that was the 19th Century--would have such a foul undertow of atheistic materialism. That atheistic materialism brought us the bloodbath of the 20th Century; but the undertow of the 20th Century promises to bring us a rather glorious 21st.

You atheists need to be a lot less arrogant. You're going to lose. And badly.

55 posted on 02/11/2003 7:34:53 AM PST by HumanaeVitae (The purpose of the 'animal rights movement' is not to humanize animals, but to dehumanize men.)
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To: metacognative
That article is trash. This is not the product of a 19th century mind telling you either.
Go peddle your pseudoscience someplace else. Imagine explaining biological development with a book of myths!
56 posted on 02/11/2003 7:37:50 AM PST by stanz
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To: metacognative
And by the way, modern science has EVIDENCE. What do you have?
57 posted on 02/11/2003 7:43:05 AM PST by stanz
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To: Dataman
You read it, did you not?

Nope. Very quick skim on the Spock bio. When I realized he wasn't a Vulcan, lost interest.

58 posted on 02/11/2003 8:34:42 AM PST by VadeRetro
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To: VadeRetro; Phaedrus; HumanaeVitae; metacognative; ALS; Remedy
Me: You read it, did you not?

You: Nope. Very quick skim on the Spock bio. When I realized he wasn't a Vulcan, lost interest.

Sometimes you fellas amaze me.

You just admitted you rejected something without knowing what it says.

Just how would you characterize that behavior? Narrow minded? That of a closed mind? Arrogance? Exercising the Golden Rule? That's it! You are treating the words of others as you wish your words treated.

Therfore no one need read your posts anymore before dismissing them.

59 posted on 02/11/2003 8:59:32 AM PST by Dataman
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To: Dataman
Please refer to my post #47 for a rather simple reason why personally didn't waste my time with the original post.
60 posted on 02/11/2003 10:03:40 AM PST by whattajoke
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