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Smith and his compatriots did not believe in the perfectibility of human nature and thought it foolish to build any human institution on the possibility of attaining such perfection. Neither did they believe that human nature was irredeemably corrupt and devoid of virtue.

I imagine the reason Adam Smith and compatriots disbelieved in the perfectibility of human nature and thought is that they did believe in the constancy and persistence of human nature as an already "given" thing that does not change much, if at all, over time. Human nature represents a universal pattern repeated by every generation of human beings since Day One. As any fair reading of human history and culture readily attests.

What is most striking to me about Darwinism is its fundamental and absolute denial of human nature as such. Evolution theory stipulates that man is an animal who is like all the other animals. That is, essentially man is "just" a biological entity; thus he does not have a "fixed" nature, but an "evolving" one, like any other other animal, from amoeba and bacteria on up "the food chain"....

The great leap of faith that Darwin took was that evolution is necessarily "progressive"; that is to say, things are just progressing from a lesser state to a better one — measured according to the criteria of fitness for survival of the species to which man is categorically assigned, not according to any consideration of the natural (not to mention spiritual) requirements of any individual human being. Those main criteria: random mutation and natural selection, as they contribute to fitness for/success in breeding.

It all seems pretty mindless to me....

Talk about the grotesque reduction of actual Reality being performed in these mental maneuvers!!

The cultural leap to Freud — and Marx — was a done deal from that point....

Thank you so very much for writing, dear brother in Christ!

That is, essentially man is "just" a biological entity; thus he does not have a "fixed" nature, but an "evolving" one, like any other other animal, from amoeba and bacteria on up "the food chain"....

Truly, Darwin's theory relies on mindlessness - no first cause, no final cause - serendipitous if the species survives. But in the absence of final cause, how that could be deemed 'progressive' boggles the mind. It's just happenstance.

Thank you so much for sharing your insights, dearest sister in Christ!

Talk about the grotesque reduction of actual Reality being performed in these mental maneuvers!!

Had to happen to lay ground work for the purgeing of the masses and liquidation of undesireables and processing the useless eaters..

By Darwinists, faux-Darwinists, and psuedo-Darwinists..
which became socialists and ultimately progressives..

De-flowering and defameing and degrading humanity into farm animals..
Inspiring Stalin, Hitler, Mao and a panoply of other demogogues...

“Mental Maneuvers”, indeed... devaluing the best and brightest to the least and worthless..

Pretty smart actually.. more like Morlocks and Eloy..
The next socialist you meet is indeed a MORLOCK..
Not LIKE a Morlock; but the really of what the fictional meme speaks of..

Would actually make a good novel.. as good as Atlas Shrugged..