[Xmca-l] Re: The ideal head

[Peter Smagorinsky]

Thanks Mike. I'm presently working my way through Darwin's On the Origin of Species as part of my effort to understand the notion of adaptation. Although he is a naturalist, he does talk about people, and I was a bit surprised to see how he characterizes non-Europeans as savages and barbarians--at least part of him was a social Darwinist, something that was actually advanced by Spencer to justify the sorts of cruel individualism practiced in competitive industrialized societies. I'll paste in something representative, which may appear as an attachment. P



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-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of mike cole
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2014 6:39 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: [Xmca-l] Re: The ideal head



Hi Peter. I had a similar experience regarding the accidental discovery of literature containing those colonialist-era books. My example was written for high level scholars over a century ago, but it, like this piece, expresses views that have not by any means disappeared in the intervening century.



Nor has the resulting violence seemed to have eased.



Attached.

mike





On Sat, Jul 19, 2014 at 12:03 PM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu<mailto:smago@uga.edu>> wrote:



>

> http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/07/the-ideal-head-bi

> zarre-racial-teachings-from-a-100-year-old-textbook/374693/#comments

>

> I wrote this very short essay that some might find interesting, and

> have linked to the page that includes reader comments, which are

> prolific and edifying for those who believe in the progress of human

> thinking. p

>
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