Thursday Post

Today we discussed how Dostoevsky’s work is influence by Darwin and his theory of evolution. This influence was expressed in a passage from Notes from the Underground that claimed how living beyond a certain age is “bad manners” and “vulgar”. People who live longer then 40 are “fools” and “useless”. We discussed how evolutionarily the eldest and weakest perish because of natural selection, but because of modern medicine and moral ethics, a lot of money and resources are diverted from today’s strong and healthy youth to the same weak and older people that natural selection would have gotten rid of.  We talked about how the elderly, sick and mentally handicapped are a burden on society. While in a logical and evolutionary sense this maybe true, I am morally obligated to disagree. I think these people who “burden” our society also makes us better. The elderly provide wisdom, guidance, and experience. Mentally handicapped people provide many healthy and strong indivduals with a certain unconditionally love that can come from nowhere else.  Maybe these people seem ‘”dispensable” to those who have never experience the love or guidance that comes from these people, they might not understand, but those who have will understand that these people often make the world a kinder place. I think they give civilization a type of compassion, respect, and genuine loving community that perhaps would be impossible without them.