Category Archives: Evolution

The Better Angels of Our Nature

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on September 12, 2012

The Summer 2012 issue of the Independent Review features my review essay (PDF) of Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined. There can be little doubt that this work constitutes one of the most ambitious … Continue reading →

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Humans are still evolving

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on November 28, 2011

A defining characteristic of ideologies is an implicit or explicit theory of human nature. For example, modern libertarians like Ayn Rand and Murray Rothbard derived bold normative conclusions from the fact that humans are endowed with reason. In such attempts, … Continue reading →

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Survival of the unfittest

by Aschwin de Wolf Posted on October 12, 2011

Reading the book today, Survival of the Unfittest (1927) by Charles Wicksteed Armstrong, it has all the elements that ensured its descent into completely obscurity: concerns about human degeneration, advocacy of eugenics, and classical liberal views on state and political … Continue reading →

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