Historian Richard Weikart’s provocative new book, Hitler’s Ethic: The Nazi Pursuit of Evolutionary Progress, comes out today, illuminating the mercilessly coherent worldview driving Nazi policy in 20th century Germany.
Weikart persuasively mounts his case that Hitler was not a madman; rather, he sought to improve the human race via “evolutionary progress,” an ethic that influenced almost every major feature of Nazi policy: eugenics (i.e., measures to improved human heredity, including compulsory sterilization), euthanasia, racism, population expansion, offensive warfare, and racial extermination. By embracing this particular brand of ethics, Hitler managed to perpetrate much greater evil than he would have had he been merely opportunistic or amoral.
It’s an intriguing argument, which Weikart defended on yesterday’s ID the Future podcast. Take a listen for more on Hitler’s Ethic.