Some conservatives fear that Darwinism denies cosmic teleology and thus denies
any conception of natural right or natural law. But Darwin’s theory of evolution allows
for an immanent teleology such that the human species has species-specific ends or
purposes that support the human moral sense as an expression of natural human desires.
Some conservatives fear that Darwinism puts no limits on the human power to use
biotechnology to abolish human nature. But Darwinian science suggests that such
biotechnology will be so limited by the adaptive complexity of human nature and by the
moral ends set by natural human desires that human nature will endure.
Calming such conservative fears of Darwinism helps us to see how a Darwinian
science of human nature supports conservative social thought as founded on a realist
vision of human imperfectability. More particularly, Darwinism sustains the
conservative search for ordered liberty as founded on traditional morality, family life,
private property, limited government, and religious liberty. That’s why conservatives
need Charles Darwin.
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Convention