David Klinghoffer defends Expelled
and supports his assertion that "Darwinism contributed mightily to Hitlerism" (http://www.evolutionnews.org/2008/04/hitlers_debt_to_darwin.html)
by selectively quoting from the following reference. Whether or not the original source supports
or undermines his claim may be judged from is the passage in context: "It was part of his character always
to try to create the impression that he had mastered whoe areas of
knowledge
Yet it seems all too probable that
Hitler had acquired his knowledge
of those areas only from second- or third-hand digests
he went on extracting
the elements of his world view from pseudoscientific secondary works: tracts on
race theory, anti-Semitic pamphlets, treatises on the Teutons, on racial
mysticism and eugenics, as well as popular treatments of Darwinism and the
philosophy of history
In actual fact, knowledge meant nothing to Hitler; he was
not acquainted with the pleasure or the struggle that go with its acquisition:
to him it was merely useful: the art of correct reading of which he spoke was
nothing more than the hunt for formulations to borrow and authorities to cite
in support of his own preconceptions." Joachim C. Fest, Hitler. Harcourt, 2001,
p210.
To return to the previous topic,
click on your browser's 'Back' button. |
|