Question

The following argument appeared in the draft of a bill before the Louisiana State Legislature in 2001:
Whereas, the writings of Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, promoted the justification of racism, and his books On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man postulate a hierarchy of superior and inferior races… Therefore, be it resolved that the legislature of Louisiana does hereby deplore all instances and all ideologies of racism, does hereby reject the core concepts of Darwinist ideology that certain races and classes of humans are inherently superior to others, and does hereby condemn the extent to which these philosophies have been used to justify and approve racist practices.
Is the there a fallacy of relevance in this argument? Explain.

Answer 1

Yes.

Darwin's work did not claim a hierarchy of races.

Answer 2

This confuses Darwin's work with something called "Social Darwinism" which was popular in the late 19th century (and still with us today in some minds) that the "survival of the fittest" justified the concept of some races being inferior to others, or some social classes being inferior, etc. "Social Darwinism" was an attempt to apply Darwin's theories in ways he never intended, and to which they do not apply.