ABSTRACT
People reading modern neo-Darwinist writings might well suppose that he took little interest in the matter or was unwilling to discuss it. 'Social Atomism' is a combination of the deep individualism of our time and a prejudice about method: a general idea that it is always more scientific to consider separate components than the larger wholes to which they belong. There are two reasons why Pseudo-Darwinism has been neglected. One is the very narrow, stereotypic idea of Darwin's thought that has lately prevailed. Unlike most modern evolutionary psychologists, who assume that one fully understand the institutions they have now and merely speculate about their evolutionary causes, Darwin grapples with real contemporary issues about our moral constitution. Besides the twisted notion of Darwinism, another potent factor that has led to neglect of this topic is the general difficulty that an individualistic age has in understanding the function of morality at all. Darwin's approach to psychological questions is quite different.
