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Selected Works of Charles H. Smith
Article
Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 19: Social Evolution’s Useful Idiots
Alfred Russel Wallace Notes (2022)
  • Charles H Smith, Western Kentucky University
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Abstract
In today’s world liberals look at conservatives as the villains, and vice versa. How did this come to pass? In this essay a model of the biological roots of liberalism and conservatism is advanced; this is followed by a discussion of why cognitive dissonance may represent the key process in our social evolution. Alfred Russel Wallace’s experience with cognitive dissonance is then detailed, including how he dealt with it.
Keywords
  • Alfred Russel Wallace,
  • evolution,
  • natural selection,
  • social evolution,
  • conservatism,
  • liberalism,
  • useful idiots,
  • cognitive dissonance
Disciplines
Publication Date
February, 2022
Citation Information
Charles H Smith. "Alfred Russel Wallace Notes 19: Social Evolution’s Useful Idiots" Alfred Russel Wallace Notes (2022)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/charles_smith/90/
Creative Commons license
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY International License.