Undergrad Paper on Lamarckian Evolution

I wrote this five page paper titled “The Effect of Christianity on Informing the Teleological Aspect of Lamarckian Evolution” during an intense summer class titled “Science and Difference” at NYU. It was about the history of scientific thought from pre-Darwinian evolution to our modern era with a focus on racial and gender issues. I took every opportunity given to practice presuppositional apologetics within the bounds of the assignment, here is one of them. I believe this paper got a B+.

Here is a quote to wet your appetite:

By maintaining the purposeful, orderly and teleological nature of creation as it existed in the Christian worldview and rejecting the God who had dictated those purposes, men and women were left to themselves to determine what this purpose should be. Without the commandments and biblical suppositions acting as a restraint on evil, humanity saw some of its worst. Lamarck’s teleology had justified the concept of race. The development of the perfect race of human, as determined by environmental factors, had opened the door to declare the Caucasian as the crown jewel of creation rather than, as in Christianity, the whole of humanity itself. As such, the beginning acceptance of evolutionary thought in a distinctly Christian heritage resulted in the justification of the atrocities of imperialism and racial slavery within the past few centuries. This can be noted in contrast to the purely economical and military slavery that was accepted prior to enlightenment thought.