Here is the next paragraph in Dobbs criticism of Wade:
"Wade builds much of his case around historical ideas like
Gregory Clark’s hypothesis about English breeding; the political
scientist Francis Fukuyama’s notion that Western democracies
represent a high point in the evolution of social institutions;
and the economic historian Niall Ferguson’s view that the West
“succeeded because it was an open society.” These values and
institutions, Wade says, were both shaped by and drove the
evolution of Caucasian genes."
Here is what Wade actually writes: ". . . each race has
developed the institutions appropriate to secure survival in its
particular environment. This, then, is the most significant
feature of human races: not that their members differ much as
individuals -- they don't -- but that their society's institutions
differ because of slight differences in social behavior.
"A landmark analysis of human history in terms of social
institutions has recently been written by the political scientist
Francis Fukuyama. Fukuyama has nothing to say about race but his
thesis, describing how each of the major civilizations adapted its
institutions to its local geography and historical circumstances,
provides a road map of human social adaptation and the different
paths taken by each civilization.
"Fukuyama's premise, like that of North quoted above, is that
institutions are rooted in human social behavior. 'The recovery
of human nature by modern biology . . . is extremely important as
a foundation for any theory of political development, because it
provides us with the basic building blocks by which we can
understand the later evolution of human institutions,' he writes."
Wade's discussion of Fukuyama's applicable ideas seem logical and
benign to me. Fukuyama's ideas as quoted are consistent with
ideas of natural selection. I don't read Wade as "conjecturing"
so much as drawing attention to a parallel between social and
physical science. I have encountered other writers doing this
sort of thing, Bryan Sykes for example in The Seven Daughters
of Eve, subtitled "The Science that Reveals our Genetic
Ancestry," who makes use of anthropology, history and archaeology.
I've watched National Geographic-type documentaries where someone
is showing life evolving, shaped by its environment. It seems a
bit excessive to criticize Wade for doing something similar.
Wednesday, July 6, 2016
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment