Wednesday, April 23, 2008

This is quote-mining? C'mon

One of the Darwinists' favorite chants against ID advocates is "quote-mining". "Quote-mining" in the Darwinist lexicon, means quoting something they don't like. They repeat it like a mantra. The most recent example is from our old friend Evil Bender. In a recent post, he attacks Richard Wiekart when Wiekart quotes Darwin saying, in his Autobiography, that one “can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones.”

Bender, indignant that anyone could take Darwin at his word, begins the chant: "Quote-mining, Quote-mining..."

And his proof that Weikart is "quote-mining"? A passage which not only does not contradict what Weikart said, but actually backs it up. For some reason which I cannot comprehend, Evil Bender thinks the following passage backs up his point that Darwin believed in fixed, immutable moral standards:
A man who has no assured and ever present belief in the existence of a personal God or of a future existence with retribution and reward, can have for his rule of life, as far as I can see, only to follow those impulses and instincts which are the strongest or which seem to him the best ones. A dog acts in this manner, but he does so blindly. A man, on the other hand, looks forwards and backwards, and compares his various feelings, desires and recollections. He then finds, in accordance with the verdict of all the wisest men that the highest satisfaction is derived from following certain impulses, namely the social instincts. If he acts for the good of others, he will receive the approbation of his fellow men and gain the love of those with whom he lives; and this latter gain undoubtedly is the highest pleasure on this earth. By degrees it will become intolerable to him to obey his sensuous passions rather than his higher impulses, which when rendered habitual may be almost called instincts. His reason may occasionally tell him to act in opposition to the opinion of others, whose approbation he will then not receive; but he will still have the solid satisfaction of knowing that he has followed his innermost guide or conscience.
Wow. What a statement of fixed moral principles this is. "Feelings." "Desires." "Recollections." "Social instincts." This is the basis of moral absolutes? Since when is "the approbation of ... fellow men" and the "the love of those" with whom you live the basis of moral objectivity?

I suppose Evil Bender is hanging his hat on the last part of this quote, where he talks about those special occasions on which someone follows their "reason." And what, precisely, does Darwin mean by this? Apparently something having to do with one's "innermost guide or conscience." Now there's something solid and unchanging. Makes you feel like putting on a tie dye t-shirt and firing up the ol' bong.

If this is quote-mining, I hope people like Wiekart keep digging.

I haven't read Darwin's Autobiography, so I can't say what precisely Darwin did or didn't believe about the foundations of morality. But from this passage, it doesn't look terribly hopeful. We know as a matter of history that Darwin was a decent person. On that, as far as I can tell, there is no debate. The debate is over whether a theory that postulates that a completely naturalistic origin of man undermines the rational foundation of moral belief. On that question the answer seems fairly apparent to some of us--and passages like this don't do anything to make it any less so.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"I haven't read Darwin's Autobiography, so I can't say what precisely Darwin did or didn't believe about the foundations of morality. But from this passage, it doesn't look terribly hopeful."

So you are going to take a short passage without its proper context and assume -- without any apparent effort to read more widely in Darwin -- to draw conclusions about Darwin's ethics? How is that not (intentional) quote-mining?

Martin Cothran said...

Anonymous,

Where in this post did I make any positive claim about what Darwin explicitly believed in terms of ethics? In fact, the passage of mine you quoted states specifically that I am not making any such claim. Did you bother to read the very comment of mine you quoted?

I can't say what precisely Darwin did or didn't believe about the foundations of morality.

Is there something unclear about that? If quote-mining, which presumably means taking a comment out of a context, is bad, then what do we say about taking a comment that clearly states one thing and interpreting to say completely the opposite of what it clearly states?

Anonymous said...

You left out the sentence after: "But from this passage, it doesn't look terribly hopeful."

Your hesitation to say anything definitive does not mean you aren't strongly implying things based on a single sentence that is, yes, quote-mined.

Martin Cothran said...

First you said I drew "conclusions about Darwin's ethics." Now I'm "implying things based on a single sentence." So are you admitting that what you said first was mistaken? So your giving me a lecture on the evils of quote mining when you go around misrepresenting what other people say?

And what am I implying? What I explicitly said I was not saying?
Maybe you could tell me under what logical system one statement implies its exact opposite.