Why is Social Darwinism seen in such negative terms in popular discourse? It is seen as endorsing violence, ruthless capitalism, violent militarism and imperialism, Nazi eugenics. In fact Darwinist theory was multivalent and multilayered, and a myriad of political derivatives were made from it, including liberal reformist, even socialist agendas. For Paul’s comments on this dark imaging, see his contribution to a symposium on Truth and Reconciliation for Social Darwinism in the online science journal This View of Life: The Evolution Institute, issue September 2015. Paul’s piece is entitled “Social Darwinism: Myth and Reality”.