Overcoming Darwinism
Carbajo / 31 Maggio 2023

Darwin’s theory has had a decisive influence on Modernity and continues to be present in our imagination. It affirms that “there must in every case be a struggle for existence”[1]. It has thus spread a mentality that contradicts the Christian vision of the human being and of the world. The current ecological crisis is no stranger to it. Considering that the struggle is inevitable, “Human beings and material objects no longer extend a friendly hand to one another”[2].  A dialectic of permanent conflict Ignoring the natural ties that bind us to all creatures, modern culture has accentuated the separation and conflictive antagonism. Man has been defined as a wolf (homo homini lupus), a being internally divided (ontological dualism) and clearly detached from all other creatures (ontic dualism). The other is seen as a dangerous competitor, who must be defeated or outwitted (social Darwinism) because, as Hobbes said, “your death is my life.” Nature has been considered a battlefield (“eat or be eaten”), where only the strongest and most gifted survive. Therefore, a dialectic of perennial conflict has been justified at all levels, together with the despotic anthropocentrism, and the throwaway culture. For instance, it has been asserted that, in economics,…