Counterpart of Social Darwinism - A Human Society Needs the Disabled

Counterpart of Social Darwinism

A Human Society Needs the Disabled

[Society needs the disabled because they keep open the perspective of human readiness to help. On the other hand a social-darwinian society produces the disabled despite all conceivable use of medicine since this production is in its logic.]

By Walter Grode

[This article is translated abridged from the German in: zeitzeichen 2001. Walter Grode is a political scientist in Hannover.]

…The President of the Germany Johannes Rau said in his Berlin address on May 18, 2001 that sickness and disability will always belong to human life. Therefore the goal of realizing false standards of the “perfect person” with the help of genetic engineering should be rejected.

However what are involved are not only false standards of the perfect person. What are at stake are true for false standards for our society, worldly ethics and human dignity.

In Germany, the considerable approval of the population for pre-implantation diagnosis (PID) is only supported out of fear of disability. This fear is individually very legitimate and should not be belittled. Still this fear and the readiness to transgress ethical limits is ambivalent if not foolish.

What does it say about a society that writes strength, beauty and wealth on its banners while new tablets of law celebrate the idea of aggressive competition? Everywhere the impression is that survival is at stake. “You must be the best, the strongest and the winner. If you are not, others will be” is the message. In this perspective, every possibility for manipulating one’s life and foreign life must be thankfully accepted.

A society based on the social-darwinian cult of the stronger systematically produces disabled persons by setting the threshold of disability lower and lower. Such a society requires handicapped persons for its self-assurance. In sports and politics, entertainment and everyday life, they are presented as specially motivated defenders of the “survival of the fittest” – in the expectation that this will be re-interpreted in the right sense by the young, strong and healthy…

Helpers to Others

Thus the disabled have an entirely positive effect on a community marked by humanitarian and Christian values. Through their pure existence, mentally handicapped persons awaken the unconscious need for community, humanity and solidarity in the world planted in each of us. “I am happy wen I am understood, when I can count on others.” “A person should be a helper to others” could be a humane maxim for life.

The handicapped form a crystalization core, a potential (conscious or unconscious) counterpart to social darwinism. This counterpart diminishes when they are socially supported and tolerated and when they bear their own inadequacy, the standardization- and self-adjustment pressure weighing down on the whole society. Both in the direct-graphic sense and in the abstract normative sense, every modern rational competitive society – because it needs normality as a general standard – also automatically produces the abnormal, the non-conformist and the disabled. If they were removed – for example through the envisioned progress of human genetics -, new completely “normal” persons would take their place who then in the future would be regarded as “abnormal”.

Handicapped persons are the personified expressions of all those problems and risks that modern medicine and the food industry, mobility-thinking and the military pretend to solve. Therefore they contribute through their social presence to identifying and not biologizing social problems and conflicts.

The life of and with the disabled contains a potential which in a special way avoids the laws of the market- and competitive society.

Like every conscious relation with existential situations (sickness, birth and death), association with the disabled can bring to light a very different standard for contacts with the social and natural environment. Since it is forced to rely on its own (naturally limited) resources, the life of and with handicapped persons can preserve its own promises of happiness and hopes in the simple knowledge that wanting to (immediately) have or do everything possible is counter-productive.

Frequently Asked Questions about "Counterpart of Social Darwinism: A Human Society Needs the Disabled"

What is the main argument of the article?

The article argues that society needs the disabled because they highlight the importance of human empathy and the need for community, humanity, and solidarity. The author contends that a social-darwinian society, focused on strength and competition, paradoxically produces more disabled individuals by constantly raising the bar for what is considered normal. Furthermore, the disabled serve as a constant reminder of the limitations and risks inherent in modern society's pursuit of perfection and progress.

What is the author's critique of social darwinism?

The author criticizes the social-darwinian emphasis on strength, beauty, and wealth, arguing that it creates a competitive environment where individuals feel pressured to be "the best" at all costs. This, in turn, leads to a lower threshold for what is considered a disability and a greater fear of being perceived as inadequate. The author suggests that this relentless pursuit of perfection can actually lead to the marginalization and creation of more "disabled" individuals.

What role do disabled individuals play in a society with humanitarian and Christian values, according to the author?

According to the author, disabled individuals have a positive effect on a community marked by humanitarian and Christian values. Their existence awakens the unconscious need for community, humanity, and solidarity in others. They serve as a "crystallization core" and a counterpart to social darwinism, reminding society of the importance of helping others.

How does the author believe society handles social problems and conflicts in relation to the disabled?

The author suggests that the presence of disabled individuals helps society identify and address social problems and conflicts rather than biologizing them. In other words, instead of viewing problems solely through a medical or biological lens, the presence of the disabled encourages a broader social perspective.

What does the author mean by "cold stream running through our society (Oskar Negt)"?

The author is referencing a concept by Oskar Negt, suggesting that there's a detached or emotionally disconnected current present in society. Handicapped individuals contribute to preventing the cold stream, or societal detachment, from intensifying.

What is the argument against pre-implantation diagnosis (PID)?

The considerable approval for pre-implantation diagnosis (PID) is only supported out of fear of disability. The author suggests that there is a legitimate fear, and that it should not be minimized. However, it is both ambivalent and foolish to let this fear transgress ethical limits.