The "Recapitulation Theory" has now been shown scientifically to be untrue, but is still frequently cited and serves to undermine the sanctity of human life in its early formation in the womb.

Modern psychoanalysis tries to relate many of the conditions and problems of people back to some evolutionary ancestry.

The concept of "survival of the fittest" (which is actually a tautology which has no explanatory power) has been applied in many areas to justify the dominance of one group over another. Basically, "might makes right" becomes the operative norm.

Although modern evolutionists deplore racism, racism justified by an evolutionary viewpoint that non-Caucasian races were a human subspecies was widely practiced in the late 1800's and early 1900's. In fact, the subtitle of Darwin's book "The Origin of Species" mentions the "preservation of favored races". This included human races. Among the excesses propelled by this philosophy, thousands of Australian aborigines were killed for use as scientific specimens. Some people thought they might be the "missing link" (between apes and men).

Also interesting is the story of Ota Benga, an African pygmy tribesman who was put on display at the St. Louis World's Fair (with others) and later by himself in the Bronx Zoo monkey house. The zoo director claimed he "did not have the power of learning".