Eugenics is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through various forms of intervention. Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus [2] Throughout history, eugenics has been regarded by its various advocates as a social responsibility, an altruistic stance of a society, meant to create healthier and more intelligent people, to save resources, and lessen human suffering. Social responsibility is an ethical or ideological theory that an Entity whether it is a Government, Corporation, Organization Altruism is selfless concern for the welfare of others It is a traditional Virtue in many cultures and central to many religious traditions Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Suffering, or pain, is an individual's basic Affective experience of unpleasantness and aversion associated with harm or threat of harm
Earlier proposed means of achieving these goals focused on selective breeding, while modern ones focus on prenatal testing and screening, genetic counseling, birth control, in vitro fertilization, and genetic engineering. This article focuses on selective breeding in domesticated animals Prenatal testing is Testing for diseases or conditions in a Fetus or Embryo before it is born Prenatal testing is Testing for diseases or conditions in a Fetus or Embryo before it is born Genetic counseling is the process by which patients or relatives at risk of an inherited disorder are advised of the consequences and nature of the disorder the probability of developing Birth control, sometimes synonymous with contraception, is a regimen of one or more actions devices or Medications followed in order to deliberately prevent In vitro fertilisation ( IVF) is a process by which Genetic engineering, Recombinant DNA technology, genetic modification/manipulation (GM and gene splicing are terms that apply to the direct Opponents argue that eugenics is immoral. Morality (from the Latin la moralitas "manner character proper behavior" has three principal meanings Historically, a minority of eugenics advocates have used it as a justification for state-sponsored discrimination, forced sterilization of persons deemed genetically defective, and the killing of institutionalized populations. Unlike most discrimination policies discrimination between, which is the discernment of qualities and recognition of the differences focused here discrimination against is Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. Eugenics was also used to rationalize certain aspects of the Holocaust. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as The modern field and term were first formulated by Sir Francis Galton in 1883,[3] drawing on the recent work of his cousin Charles Darwin. Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life From its inception eugenics was supported by prominent people, including H.G. Wells, Emile Zola, George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, William Keith Kellogg and Margaret Sanger. Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political Émile François Zola ( (2 April 1840 &ndash 29 September 1902 was an influential French Writer, the most important exemplar of the literary school of George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright. John Maynard Keynes 1st Baron Keynes CB (ˈkeɪnz "cains" (5 June 1883 &ndash 21 April 1946 was a British Economist whose ideas Will Keith Kellogg, usually referred to as W K Kellogg ( April 7, 1860 &ndash October 6, 1951) was a U Margaret Higgins Sanger ( September 14, 1879 &ndash September 6, 1966) was an American Birth control activist an advocate [4][5] [6] G. K. Chesterton was an early critic of the philosophy of eugenics, expressing this opinion in his book, Eugenics and Other Evils. Gilbert Keith Chesterton (29 May 1874 – 14 June 1936 was an influential English writer of the early 20th century Eugenics became an academic discipline at many colleges and universities. Funding was provided by prestigious sources such as the Rockefeller Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the Carnegie Institution of Washington, and the Harriman family. The Rockefeller Foundation (RF is a prominent Philanthropic organization and Private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue New York City. The WK Kellogg Foundation was founded in June 1930 as the WK Kellogg Child Welfare Foundation by Breakfast Cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg The Carnegie Institution for Science (also called the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a organization in the United States established to support Scientific Mary Williamson Averell ( 22 July 1851 - 7 November 1932) was born in New York City into a prominent New York family she was tutored [7] Three International Eugenics Conferences presented a global venue for eugenicists with meetings in 1912 in London, and in 1921 and 1932 in New York. Three International Eugenics Conferences took place between 1912 and 1932 and were the global venue for scientists politicians and social leaders to plan and discuss the application Eugenics' scientific reputation started to tumble in the 1930s, a time when Ernst Rüdin began incorporating eugenic rhetoric into the racial policies of Nazi Germany. Ernst Rüdin ( April 19, 1874 - October 22, 1952) was a Swiss psychiatrist, Geneticist and eugenicist The racial policy of Nazi Germany refers to the policies and laws implemented by Nazi Germany, asserting the superiority of the so-called " Aryan race " and Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers
Since the postwar period, both the public and the scientific communities have associated eugenics with Nazi abuses, such as enforced racial hygiene, human experimentation, and the extermination of undesired population groups. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Nazism, which was a short name for National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus refers primarily to the Ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Racial hygiene (often labeled a form of " Scientific racism " is the selection by a government of the putatively most physical intellectual and moral persons to raise Human subject research (HSR or human subject use (HSU involves the use of human beings as research subjects However, developments in genetic, genomic, and reproductive technologies at the end of the 20th century have raised many new questions and concerns about what exactly constitutes the meaning of eugenics and what its ethical and moral status is in the modern era.
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Meanings and types of eugenics
The word eugenics etymologically derives from the Greek word eu (good or well) and the suffix -genēs (born), and was coined by Sir Francis Galton in 1883. Etymology is the study of the History of Words &mdash when they entered a language from what source and how their form and meaning have changed over time Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an
Eugenics has, from the very beginning, meant many different things to many different people. Historically, the term has referred to everything from prenatal care for mothers to forced sterilization and euthanasia. Euthanasia (literally "good death" in Ancient Greek) refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner Much debate has taken place in the past, as it does today--as to what exactly counts as eugenics. [8] Some types of eugenics deal only with perceived beneficial and/or detrimental genetic traits. These are sometimes called “pseudo-eugenics’ by proponents of strict eugenics.
The term eugenics is often used to refer to movements and social policies influential during the early twentieth century. In a historical and broader sense, eugenics can also be a study of "improving human genetic qualities. " It is sometimes broadly applied to describe any human action whose goal is to improve the gene pool. In Population genetics, a gene pool is the complete set of unique Alleles in a Species or Population. Some forms of infanticide in ancient societies, present-day reprogenetics, preemptive abortions and designer babies have been (sometimes controversially) referred to as eugenic. Infanticide is the practice of someone intentionally causing the death of an Infant. Reprogenetics is a term referring to the merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like Germinal choice The colloquial term " designer baby " has been used in popular scientific and Bioethics literature to specify a child whose hereditary makeup ( Genotype) would
Because of its normative goals and historical association with scientific racism, as well as the development of the science of genetics, the western scientific community has mostly disassociated itself from the term "eugenics", although one can find advocates of what is now known as liberal eugenics. Normative has specialized meanings in several academic disciplines Scientific racism denotes the use of scientific or ostensibly scientific findings and methods to support or validate racist attitudes and worldviews Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is Liberal eugenics is an Ideology which advocates the use of reproductive and genetic technologies where the choice of the goals of enhancing human Despite its ongoing criticism in the United States, several regions globally practice different forms of eugenics.
Eugenicists advocate specific policies that (if successful) they believe will lead to a perceived improvement of the human gene pool. Since defining what improvements are desired or beneficial is perceived by many as a cultural choice rather than a matter that can be determined objectively (e. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic g. , by empirical, scientific inquiry), eugenics has often been deemed a pseudoscience[9]. Pseudoscience is defined as a body of knowledge methodology belief or practice that is claimed to be Scientific or made to appear scientific but does not adhere to the The most disputed aspect of eugenics has been the definition of "improvement" of the human gene pool, such as what is a beneficial characteristic and what is a defect. This aspect of eugenics has historically been tainted with scientific racism. Scientific racism denotes the use of scientific or ostensibly scientific findings and methods to support or validate racist attitudes and worldviews
Early eugenicists were mostly concerned with perceived intelligence factors that often correlated strongly with social class. Intelligence (also called intellect) is an Umbrella term used to describe a property of the Mind that encompasses many related abilities such as the capacities Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. Many eugenicists took inspiration from the selective breeding of animals (where purebreds are often strived for) as their analogy for improving human society. This article focuses on selective breeding in domesticated animals Purebreds, also called purebreeds, are cultivated varieties or cultivars of an animal Species, achieved through the process of Selective breeding The mixing of races (or miscegenation) was usually considered as something to be avoided in the name of racial purity. Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind" is the mixing of different racial groups, that is marrying, cohabiting List of racism-related topics|Racism by country Racism, by its simplest definition is the belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that At the time this concept appeared to have some scientific support, and it remained a contentious issue until the advanced development of genetics led to a scientific consensus that the division of the human species into unequal races is unjustifiable. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is
Eugenics has also been concerned with the elimination of hereditary diseases such as hemophilia and Huntington's disease. A genetic disorder is a condition caused by abnormalities in Genes or Chromosomes While some diseases such as Cancer, are due to genetic abnormalities acquired Haemophilia (also spelled as hemophilia Huntington's disease, also called Huntington's chorea, chorea major, or HD, is a genetic neurological disorder characterized after However, there are several problems with labeling certain factors as "genetic defects":
- In many cases there is no scientific consensus on what a "genetic defect" is. It is often argued that this is more a matter of social or individual choice.
- What appears to be a "genetic defect" in one context or environment may not be so in another. This can be the case for genes with a heterozygote advantage, such as sickle cell anemia or Tay-Sachs disease, which in their heterozygote form may offer an advantage against, respectively, malaria and tuberculosis. A heterozygote advantage ( heterozygous advantage) describes the case in which the heterozygote genotype has a higher relative fitness than either the Sickle-cell disease or sickle-cell anaemia (or anemia) is a Blood disorder characterized by Red blood cells that assume an abnormal rigid Tay-Sachs disease (abbreviated TSD, also known as GM2 Gangliosidosis, Hexosaminidase A deficiency or Sphingolipidosis) is a Genetic Zygosity refers to the genetic condition of a Zygote. In genetics zygosity describes the similarity or dissimilarity of DNA between Homologous Malaria is a vector -borne Infectious disease caused by Protozoan Parasites It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions including Tuberculosis (abbreviated as TB for tubercle bacillus or T u' b' erculosis Bacillus --> is a common
- Although some birth defects are uniformly lethal, disabled persons can succeed in life.
- Many of the conditions early eugenicists identified as inheritable (pellagra is one such example) are currently considered to be at least partially, if not wholly, attributed to environmental conditions. Pellagra is a Vitamin Deficiency disease caused by dietary lack of Niacin (B3 and Protein, especially proteins containing the
Similar concerns have been raised when a prenatal diagnosis of a congenital disorder leads to abortion (see also preimplantation genetic diagnosis). Prenatal testing is Testing for diseases or conditions in a Fetus or Embryo before it is born A congenital disorder is a disease or disorder that is present at birth An In Medicine and (clinical Genetics preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD (or also known as Embryo Screening) refers to procedures that are performed
Eugenic policies have been conceptually divided into two categories:
Positive eugenics is aimed to encourage reproduction among the genetically advantaged. Possible approaches include financial and political stimuli, targeted demographic analyses, in vitro fertilization, egg transplants, and cloning. [10]
Negative eugenics is aimed at lowering fertility among the genetically disadvantaged. This includes abortions, sterilization, and other methods of family planning. [10]
Both positive and negative eugenics can be coercive. Abortion by "fit" women was illegal in Nazi Germany and in the Soviet Union during Stalin's reign. An Fitness (often denoted w in Population genetics models is a central concept in evolutionary theory. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Joseph Stalin ( ნამდვილი გვარი ჯუღაშვილი|Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili; March 5 1953 was General Secretary of the Communist Party
During the 20th century, many countries enacted various eugenics policies and programs, including:
- Genetic screening
- Birth control
- Promoting differential birth rates
- Marriage restrictions
- Segregation (both racial segregation as well as segregation of the mentally ill from the normal)
- Compulsory sterilization
- Forced abortions, or, conversely, forced pregnancies
- Genocide
Most of these policies were later regarded as coercive and/or restrictive, and now few jurisdictions implement policies that are explicitly labeled as eugenic or unequivocally eugenic in substance (however labeled). Birth control, sometimes synonymous with contraception, is a regimen of one or more actions devices or Medications followed in order to deliberately prevent Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. An Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group However, some private organizations assist people in genetic counseling, and reprogenetics may be considered as a form of non-state-enforced "liberal" eugenics. Genetic counseling is the process by which patients or relatives at risk of an inherited disorder are advised of the consequences and nature of the disorder the probability of developing Reprogenetics is a term referring to the merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like Germinal choice
Implementing Eugenics
There are 3 main ways by which the methods of eugenics can be applied. They are:
- mandatory eugenics or authoritarian eugenics, in which the government mandates a eugenics program. Policies and/or legislation is often seen as being coercive and restrictive.
- promotional voluntary eugenics, in which eugenics is voluntarily practiced and promoted to the general population, but not officially mandated. This is a form of non-state enforced eugenics, using a liberal or democratic approach, which can mostly be seen in the 1900s. [11]
- private eugenics, which is practiced voluntarily by individuals and groups, but not promoted to the general population.
History
Pre-Galtonian eugenic philosophies
The basic ideals of eugenics can be found from the beginnings of Western civilization. The philosophy was most famously expounded by Plato, who believed human reproduction should be monitored and controlled by the state. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece However, Plato understood this form of government control would not be readily accepted, and proposed the truth be concealed from the public via a fixed lottery. Mates, in Plato’s Republic, would be chosen by a “marriage number” in which the quality of the individual would be quantitatively analyzed, and persons of high numbers would be allowed to procreate with other persons of high numbers. In theory, this would lead to predictable results and the improvement of the human race. However, Plato acknowledged the failure of the “marriage number” since “gold soul” persons could still produce “bronze soul” children. This might have been one of the earliest attempts to mathematically analyze genetic inheritance, which was not perfected until the development of Mendelian genetics and the mapping of the human genome. Gregor Johann Mendel ( July 20, 1822 &ndash January 6, 1884) was The human genome is the Genome of Homo sapiens, which is stored on 23 chromosome pairs Other ancient civilizations, such as Rome, Athens[12] and Sparta, practiced infanticide through exposure as a form of phenotypic selection. Rome ( Roma ˈroma Roma is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city with more than 2 Athens (ˈæθənz Αθήνα Athina,) the Capital and largest city of Greece, dominates the Attica periphery as one of the world's The city of Sparta ( Doric Σπάρτα Attic Σπάρτη Infanticide is the practice of someone intentionally causing the death of an Infant. In Sparta, newborns were inspected by the city's elders, who decided the fate of the infant. If the child was deemed incapable of living, it was usually exposed[13] in the Apothetae near the Taygetus mountain. Geographical features Kouakiou river Rintomo gorge * Viros gorge Places on the Taygetus It was more common for girls than boys to be killed this way. [14] Trials for babies which included bathing them in wine and exposing them to the elements. To Sparta, this would ensure only the strongest survived and procreated. [15] Adolf Hitler considered Sparta to be the first "Völkisch State," and much like Ernst Haeckel before him, praised Sparta due to its primitive form of eugenics practice of selective infanticide policy which was applied on deformed children though the Nazi's believed the children were killed outright and not exposed. The völkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement with a romantic focus on Folklore and the "organic" Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel ( February 16, 1834 — August 9, 1919)also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German The city of Sparta ( Doric Σπάρτα Attic Σπάρτη [16][17][18]
The 12 Tables of Roman Law, established early in the formation of the Roman Republic, stated in the fourth table that deformed children would be put to death. In addition, patriarchs in Roman society were given the right to "discard" infants at their discretion. This was often done by drowning undesired newborns in the Tiber River. The Tiber ( Latin Tiberis, Italian Tevere) is the third-longest River in Italy, rising in the Apennine mountains The practice of infanticide in the ancient world did not subside until the Christianization of the Roman empire. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings
Galton's theory
Sir Francis Galton systematized these ideas and practices according to new knowledge about the evolution of man and animals provided by the theory of his cousin Charles Darwin during the 1860s and 1870s. Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life After reading Darwin's Origin of Species, Galton built upon Darwin's ideas whereby the mechanisms of natural selection were potentially thwarted by human civilization. Charles Darwin 's On the Origin of Species (published 24 November 1859) is a seminal work in Scientific literature and arguably the Natural selection is the process by which favorable Heritable traits become more common in successive Generations of a Population of A Civilization is a society in which large numbers of people share a variety of common elements He reasoned that, since many human societies sought to protect the underprivileged and weak, those societies were at odds with the natural selection responsible for extinction of the weakest; and only by changing these social policies could society be saved from a "reversion towards mediocrity," a phrase he first coined in statistics and which later changed to the now common "regression towards the mean. Regression toward the mean, in Statistics, is the phenomenon whereby members of a Population with extreme values on a given measure for one observation will for purely "[19]
Galton first sketched out his theory in the 1865 article "Hereditary Talent and Character," then elaborated further in his 1869 book Hereditary Genius. [20] He began by studying the way in which human intellectual, moral, and personality traits tended to run in families. Galton's basic argument was "genius" and "talent" were hereditary traits in humans (although neither he nor Darwin yet had a working model of this type of heredity). Study of the heritability of IQ is a controversial field of research that includes biology psychology philosophy sociology and anthropology He concluded since one could use artificial selection to exaggerate traits in other animals, one could expect similar results when applying such models to humans. Artificial selection is the intentional breeding for certain traits or combinations of traits over others and is synonymous with " Selective breeding " As he wrote in the introduction to Hereditary Genius:
- I propose to show in this book that a man's natural abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world. Consequently, as it is easy, notwithstanding those limitations, to obtain by careful selection a permanent breed of dogs or horses gifted with peculiar powers of running, or of doing anything else, so it would be quite practicable to produce a highly-gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations. [21]
Galton claimed that the less intelligent were more fertile than the more intelligent of his time. Galton did not propose any selection methods; rather, he hoped a solution would be found if social mores changed in a way that encouraged people to see the importance of breeding. Mores (ˈmɔːreɪz are norms or customs Mores derive from the established practices of a society rather than its written Laws.
Galton first used the word eugenic in his 1883 Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development,[22] a book in which he meant "to touch on various topics more or less connected with that of the cultivation of race, or, as we might call it, with 'eugenic' questions. " He included a footnote to the word "eugenic" which read:
- That is, with questions bearing on what is termed in Greek, eugenes namely, good in stock, hereditary endowed with noble qualities. This, and the allied words, eugeneia, etc. , are equally applicable to men, brutes, and plants. We greatly want a brief word to express the science of improving stock, which is by no means confined to questions of judicious mating, but which, especially in the case of man, takes cognizance of all influences that tend in however remote a degree to give to the more suitable races or strains of blood a better chance of prevailing speedily over the less suitable than they otherwise would have had. The word eugenics would sufficiently express the idea; it is at least a neater word and a more generalized one than viticulture which I once ventured to use. [23]
In 1904 he clarified his definition of eugenics as "the science which deals with all influences that improve the inborn qualities of a race; also with those that develop them to the utmost advantage. "[24]
Galton's formulation of eugenics was based on a strong statistical approach, influenced heavily by Adolphe Quetelet's "social physics". Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection analysis interpretation or explanation and presentation of Data. Lambert Adolphe Jacques Quételet ( 22 February 1796 &ndash 17 February 1874) was a Belgian Astronomer, Mathematician Unlike Quetelet, however, Galton did not exalt the "average man" but decried him as mediocre. Galton and his statistical heir Karl Pearson developed what was called the biometrical approach to eugenics, which developed new and complex statistical models (later exported to wholly different fields) to describe the heredity of traits. Karl Pearson FRS ( March 27 1857 &ndash April 27 1936) established the disciplineof Mathematical statistics. Biometrics ( ancient Greek: bios life metron measure refers to two very different fields of study and application However, with the rediscovery of Gregor Mendel's hereditary laws, two separate camps of eugenics advocates emerged. Gregor Johann Mendel ( July 20, 1822 &ndash January 6, 1884) was One was made up of statisticians, the other of biologists. Statisticians thought the biologists had exceptionally crude mathematical models, while biologists thought the statisticians knew little about biology. [25]
Eugenics eventually referred to human selective reproduction with an intent to create children with desirable traits, generally through the approach of influencing differential birth rates. These policies were mostly divided into two categories: positive eugenics, the increased reproduction of those seen to have advantageous hereditary traits; and negative eugenics, the discouragement of reproduction by those with hereditary traits perceived as poor. Negative eugenic policies in the past have ranged from attempts at segregation to sterilization and even genocide. Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group Positive eugenic policies have typically taken the form of awards or bonuses for "fit" parents who have another child. Relatively innocuous practices like marriage counseling had early links with eugenic ideology. Relationship counseling is the process of Counseling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences
Eugenics is superficially related to what would later be known as Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism is a theory that competition among all individuals groups nations or ideas drives Social evolution in human societies While both claimed intelligence was hereditary, eugenics asserted new policies were needed to actively change the status quo towards a more "eugenic" state, while the Social Darwinists argued society itself would naturally "check" the problem of "dysgenics" if no welfare policies were in place (for example, the poor might reproduce more but would have higher mortality rates).
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler was infamous for eugenics programs which attempted to maintain a "pure" German race through a series of programs that ran under the banner of "racial hygiene". Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Racial hygiene (often labeled a form of " Scientific racism " is the selection by a government of the putatively most physical intellectual and moral persons to raise Among other activities, the Nazis performed extensive experimentation on live human beings to test their genetic theories, ranging from simple measurement of physical characteristics to the experiments carried out by Josef Mengele for Otmar von Verschuer on twins in the concentration camps. Dr Josef Mengele ( March 16, 1911 – February 7, 1979) was a German SS officer and a Physician in the Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer ( 16 July 1896 – 8 August 1969) was a German human Biologist and eugenicist During the 1930s and 1940s, the Nazi regime forcibly sterilized hundreds of thousands of people whom they viewed as mentally and physically "unfit", an estimated 400,000 between 1934 and 1937. The scale of the Nazi program prompted one American eugenics advocate to seek an expansion of their program, with one complaining that "the Germans are beating us at our own game". [26] The Nazis went further, however, killing tens of thousands of the institutionalized disabled through compulsory "euthanasia" programs. Euthanasia (literally "good death" in Ancient Greek) refers to the practice of ending a life in a painless manner [27]
They also implemented a number of "positive" eugenics policies, giving awards to "Aryan" women who had large numbers of children and encouraged a service in which "racially pure" single women could deliver illegitimate children. The " Aryan race " is a concept in European culture that was influential in the period of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Allegations that such women were also impregnated by SS officers in the Lebensborn were not proven at the Nuremburg trials, but new evidence (and the testimony of Lebensborn children) has established more details about Lebensborn practices (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article626101.ece) . The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the Lebensborn ( Fount of Life, in Old German) was a Nazi organization set up by SS leader Heinrich Himmler, which provided Also, "racially valuable" children from occupied countries were forcibly removed from their parents and adopted by German people. Many of their concerns for eugenics and racial hygiene were also explicitly present in their systematic killing of millions of "undesirable" people including Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses and homosexuals during the Holocaust (much of the killing equipment and methods employed in the death camps were first developed in the euthanasia program). PLEASE TAKE NOTE************ The Romani people (singular Rom, plural Roma as a Noun; also known as Romanies or Roma people) are an ethnic group with origins Jehovah's Witnesses is a restorationist, millenialist Christian denomination Homosexuality refers to sexual behavior with or attraction to people of the same sex or to a Homosexual orientation. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as The scope and coercion involved in the German eugenics programs along with a strong use of the rhetoric of eugenics and so-called "racial science" throughout the regime created an indelible cultural association between eugenics and the Third Reich in the postwar years. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers [28]
Some researchers, such as John Glad, have questioned the relation between eugenics and the Holocaust. John Glad is an American academic who specializes in translations of Russian Literature. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as They argue that, contrary to popular beliefs Hitler did not regard the Jews as intellectually inferior and did not send them to the concentration camps on these grounds. In fact, in the 1930s Germans regarded the Jews as a highly talented people. Hitler had different reasons for his genocidal policies toward the Jews. [29] Seymour W. Itzkoff writes that the Holocaust was "a vast dysgenic program to rid Europe of highly intelligent challengers to the existing Christian domination by a numerically and politically minuscule minority". Seymour W Itzkoff (born 22 July, 1928) is an American professor known for his controversial research into intelligence. The Holocaust (from the Greek el ''ὁλόκαυστον'' (el-Latn holókauston holos, "completely" and kaustos, "burnt" also known as Therefore, according to Itzkoff, "the Holocaust was the very antithesis of eugenic practice. "[30] However, this proposition is not supported by most researchers. Hitler did regard Jews as being intelligent, but also considered them inferior in all other ways - morally, spiritually, artistically and physically. In his view, their intelligence enabled them to thrive, but only by undermining and perverting the civilisation of other races. The extensive Nazi propaganda comparing Jews to plagues of rats demonstrates that the Holocaust was indeed a eugenics program in its conception. Rats are various medium sized long-tailed Rodents of the superfamily Muroidea
Eugenics in the United States (1890s–1945)
One of the earliest modern advocates of eugenics (before it was labeled as such) was Alexander Graham Bell. WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout In 1881 Bell investigated the rate of deafness on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Martha's Vineyard (adjoining the smaller Chappaquiddick Island) is an Island off the US east coast to the south of Cape Cod, both The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. From this he concluded that deafness was hereditary in nature and, through noting that congenitally deaf parents were more likely to produce deaf children, tentatively suggested that couples where both were deaf should not marry, in his lecture Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human race presented to the National Academy of Sciences on 13 November 1883. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS is a corporation in the United States whose members serve Pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science Events 1002 - English king Ethelred orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St Year 1883 ( MDCCCLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common [31] However, it was his hobby of livestock breeding which led to his appointment to biologist David Starr Jordan's Committee on Eugenics, under the auspices of the American Breeders Association. David Starr Jordan PhD LLD ( January 19, 1851 &ndash September 19, 1931) was a leading eugenicist, Ichthyologist The committee unequivocally extended the principle to man. [32] Like many other early eugenicists, Bell proposed controlling immigration for the purpose of eugenics, and warned that boarding schools for the deaf could possibly be considered as breeding places of a deaf human race.
Eugenics was supported by Woodrow Wilson, and, in 1907, helped to make Indiana the first of more than thirty states to adopt legislation aimed at compulsory sterilization of certain individuals. Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28 1856—February 3 1924 was the twenty-eighth President of the United States. The State of Indiana ( was the 19th US state admitted into the union Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. [33] Although the law was overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court in 1921,[34] the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of a Virginia law allowing for the compulsory sterilization of patients of state mental institutions in 1927. The Supreme Court of Indiana is the state supreme court of Indiana. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Buck v Bell,, was the United States Supreme Court ruling that upheld a statute instituting Compulsory sterilization of the mentally retarded Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. [35]
Beginning with Connecticut in 1896, many states enacted marriage laws with eugenic criteria, prohibiting anyone who was "epileptic, imbecile or feeble-minded" from marrying. Connecticut ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The term feeble-minded was used from the late 19th century through the early 20th century as a loose description of a variety of mental deficiencies including what would now be considered In 1898 Charles B. Davenport, a prominent American biologist, began as director of a biological research station based in Cold Spring Harbor where he experimented with evolution in plants and animals. Charles Benedict Davenport ( June 1, 1866 &ndash February 18, 1944) was a prominent American biologist and eugenicist Foundations of modern biology There are five unifying principles In 1904 Davenport received funds from the Carnegie Institution to found the Station for Experimental Evolution. The Carnegie Institution for Science (also called the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a organization in the United States established to support Scientific The Eugenics Record Office opened in 1910 while Davenport and Harry H. Laughlin began to promote eugenics. The Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor New York was a center for Eugenics and human Heredity research Harry Hamilton Laughlin ( March 11, 1880 – January 26, 1943) was a leading American [36]
During the 20th century, researchers became interested in the idea that mental illness could run in families and conducted a number of studies to document the heritability of such illnesses as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression. Their findings were used by the eugenics movement as proof for its cause. State laws were written in the late 1800s and early 1900s to prohibit marriage and force sterilization of the mentally ill in order to prevent the "passing on" of mental illness to the next generation. These laws were upheld by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1927 and were not abolished until the mid-20th century. By 1945 over 45,000 mentally ill individuals in the United States had been forcibly sterilized. All in all, 60,000 Americans were sterilized. [37]
In years to come, the ERO collected a mass of family pedigrees and concluded that those who were unfit came from economically and socially poor backgrounds. Eugenicists such as Davenport, the psychologist Henry H. Goddard and the conservationist Madison Grant (all well respected in their time) began to lobby for various solutions to the problem of the "unfit". Psychology (from Greek grc ψῡχή psȳkhē, "breath life soul" and grc -λογία -logia) is an Academic and Henry Herbert Goddard ( August 14 1866 &ndash June 18 1957) was a prominent American psychologist and eugenicist Madison Grant ( November 19, 1865 &ndash May 30, 1937) was an American Lawyer, known primarily for his work as a (Davenport favored immigration restriction and sterilization as primary methods; Goddard favored segregation in his The Kallikak Family; Grant favored all of the above and more, even entertaining the idea of extermination. The Kallikak Family A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness was a 1912 book by the American psychologist and eugenicist Henry )[38] Though their methodology and research methods are now understood as highly flawed, at the time this was seen as legitimate scientific research. [39] It did, however, have scientific detractors (notably, Thomas Hunt Morgan, one of the few Mendelians to explicitly criticize eugenics), though most of these focused more on what they considered the crude methodology of eugenicists, and the characterization of almost every human characteristic as being hereditary, rather than the idea of eugenics itself. Thomas Hunt Morgan ( September 25, 1866 &ndash December 4, 1945) was an American geneticist and embryologist. Gregor Johann Mendel ( July 20, 1822 &ndash January 6, 1884) was [40]
Some states sterilized "imbeciles" for much of the 20th century. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1927 Buck v. Bell case that the state of Virginia could sterilize those it thought unfit. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Buck v Bell,, was the United States Supreme Court ruling that upheld a statute instituting Compulsory sterilization of the mentally retarded The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state The most significant era of eugenic sterilization was between 1907 and 1963, when over 64,000 individuals were forcibly sterilized under eugenic legislation in the United States. Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. [41] A favorable report on the results of sterilization in California, the state with the most sterilizations by far, was published in book form by the biologist Paul Popenoe and was widely cited by the Nazi government as evidence that wide-reaching sterilization programs were feasible and humane. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. Paul Bowman Popenoe ( October 16, 1888 - June 19, 1979) was an American Agricultural explorer, eugenicist, influential When Nazi administrators went on trial for war crimes in Nuremberg after World War II, they justified the mass sterilizations (over 450,000 in less than a decade) by citing the United States as their inspiration. War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including [37]
The idea of "genius" and "talent" is also considered by William Graham Sumner, a founder of the American Sociological Society (now called the American Sociological Association). William Graham Sumner ( October 30, 1840 – April 12, 1910) was an American academic and professor at Yale College He maintained that if the government did not meddle with the social policy of laissez-faire, a class of genius would rise to the top of the system of social stratification, followed by a class of talent. Most of the rest of society would fit into the class of mediocrity. Those who were considered to be defective (mentally retarded, handicapped, etc. ) had a negative effect on social progress by draining off necessary resources. They should be left on their own to sink or swim. But those in the class of delinquent (criminals, deviants, etc. ) should be eliminated from society ("Folkways", 1907).
Both W.E.B. DuBois and Marcus Garvey supported eugenics or ideas resembling eugenics as a way to reduce African American suffering and improve stature. William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (duːˈbɔɪz ( February 23, 1868 August 27, 1963) was an American Civil rights activist Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr, National Hero of Jamaica (17 August 1887 10 June 1940 was a Publisher, Journalist, Entrepreneur, Black nationalist African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa . However, methods of eugenics were applied to reformulate more restrictive definitions of white racial purity in existing state laws banning interracial marriage: the so-called anti-miscegenation laws. Interracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry, often creating Multiracial children Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that banned Interracial marriage and sometimes interracial sex between whites and members of other The most famous example of the influence of eugenics and its emphasis on strict racial segregation on such "anti-miscegenation" legislation was Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924. Miscegenation (Latin miscere "to mix" + genus "kind" is the mixing of different racial groups, that is marrying, cohabiting On March 20, 1924 the Virginia Legislature ( United States) passed two closely related Eugenics laws SB 219 entitled " The Racial Integrity The U.S. Supreme Court overturned this law in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia, and declared anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. Loving v Virginia,, was a landmark Civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia 's Anti-miscegenation
With the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, eugenicists for the first time played an important role in the Congressional debate as expert advisers on the threat of "inferior stock" from eastern and southern Europe. The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson-Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, Asian Exclusion Act, (43 Statutes-at-Large 153 was a United This reduced the number of immigrants from abroad to 15 percent from previous years, to control the number of "unfit" individuals entering the country. While eugenicists did support the act, the most important backers were union leaders like Samuel Gompers[42]. Samuel Gompers (January 27 1850 - December 13 1924 was an American labor union leader and a key figure in American labor history. The new act, inspired by the eugenic belief in the racial superiority of "old stock" white Americans as members of the "Nordic race" (a form of white supremacy), strengthened the position of existing laws prohibiting race- mixing. The Nordic race was one of the racial categories into which the Europeans were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century White supremacy is a racist ideology based on the assertion that White people are superior to other racial groups. [43] Eugenic considerations also lay behind the adoption of incest laws in much of the U. Incest refers to any sexual activity between closely related persons (often within the immediate family that is illegal or socially Taboo. S. and were used to justify many anti-miscegenation laws. Anti-miscegenation laws, also known as miscegenation laws, were laws that banned Interracial marriage and sometimes interracial sex between whites and members of other [44]
Various authors, notably Stephen Jay Gould, have repeatedly asserted that restrictions on immigration passed in the United States during the 1920s (and overhauled in 1965 with the Immigration and Nationality Act) were motivated by the goals of eugenics. Stephen Jay Gould (September 10 1941 &ndash May 20 2002 was a prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science Immigration refers to the movement of people among countries While the movement of people has existed throughout human history at various levels modern immigration implies long-term During the early 20th century, the United States and Canada began to receive far higher numbers of Southern and Eastern European immigrants. Influential eugenicists like Lothrop Stoddard and Harry Laughlin (who was appointed as an expert witness for the House Committee on Immigration and Naturalization in 1920) presented arguments they would pollute the national gene pool if their numbers went unrestricted. Lothrop Stoddard ( June 29, 1883 &ndash May 1, 1950) born Theodore Lothrop Stoddard, was an American political theorist Harry Hamilton Laughlin ( March 11, 1880 – January 26, 1943) was a leading American It has been argued that this stirred both Canada and the United States into passing laws creating a hierarchy of nationalities, rating them from the most desirable Anglo-Saxon and Nordic peoples to the Chinese and Japanese immigrants, who were almost completely banned from entering the country. For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south The Nordic race was one of the racial categories into which the Europeans were divided by anthropologists in the first half of the twentieth century [45] However, several people, in particular Franz Samelson, Mark Snyderman and Richard Herrnstein, have argued, based on their examination of the records of the congressional debates over immigration policy, Congress gave virtually no consideration to these factors. Richard J Herrnstein ( May 20 1930 – September 13 1994) was a prominent American researcher in animal According to these authors, the restrictions were motivated primarily by a desire to maintain the country's cultural integrity against a heavy influx of foreigners. Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate" generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic [46] This interpretation is not, however, accepted by most historians of eugenics.
Some who disagree with the idea of eugenics in general contend that eugenics legislation still had benefits. Margaret Sanger (founder of Planned Parenthood of America) found it a useful tool to urge the legalization of contraception. Margaret Higgins Sanger ( September 14, 1879 &ndash September 6, 1966) was an American Birth control activist an advocate Planned Parenthood is the collective name of organizations worldwide who are members of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF Birth control, sometimes synonymous with contraception, is a regimen of one or more actions devices or Medications followed in order to deliberately prevent In its time eugenics was seen by many as scientific and progressive, the natural application of knowledge about breeding to the arena of human life. Before the death camps of World War II, the idea that eugenics could lead to genocide was not taken seriously. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction in whole or in part of an ethnic racial religious or national group
Japan
In the early part of the Shōwa era, Japanese governments executed a eugenic policy to limit the birth of children with "inferior" traits, as well as aiming to protect the life and health of mothers. The, or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926 to [47]
The Race Eugenic Protection Law was submitted from 1934 to 1938 to the Diet. After four amendments, this draft was promulgated as the National Eugenic Law in 1940 by the Konoe government [48]. According to the Eugenic Protection Law (1948), sterilization could be enforced on criminals "with genetic predisposition to commit crime", patients with genetic diseases such as total color-blindness, hemophilia, albinism and ichthyosis, and mental affections such as schizophrenia, manic-depressiveness and epilepsy. Haemophilia (also spelled as hemophilia Albinism (from Latin albus, "white" see extended etymology) is a form of hypopigmentary Congenital disorder, Ichthyosis is a heterogeneous family of more than 30 generalized mostly genetic Skin disorders. Schizophrenia ( from the Greek roots schizein (σχίζειν "to split" and phrēn Epilepsy is a common chronic Neurological disorder that is characterized by recurrent unprovoked seizures. [49]. Mental illnesses were added in 1952.
The Leprosy Prevention laws of 1907, 1931 and 1953, the last one only repealed in 1996, permitted the segregation of patients in sanitarium where forced abortions and sterilization were common, even if the laws did not refer to it, and authorized punishmement of patients "disturbing peace" as most Japanese leprologists believed that the body constitution vulnerable to the disease was inheritable. [50] There were a few Japanese leprologists such as Noburo Ogasawara who argued against the "isolation-sterilization policy" but he was denounced as a traitor to the nation at 15th conference of the Japanese Association of Leprology in 1941. [51]
Center staff also attempted to discourage marriage between Japanese women and Korean men who had been recruited from the peninsula as laborers following its annexation by Japan in 1910. In 1942, a survey report argued that "the Korean laborers brought to Japan, where they have established permanent residency, are of the lower classes and therefore of inferior constitution. . . By fathering children with Japanese women, these men could lower the caliber of the Yamato minzoku. " [52]
One of the last eugenic measure of the Shōwa regime was taken by the Higashikuni government. The was the ninth oldest branch of the Japanese Imperial Family created from branches of the Fushimi-no-miya house On 19 August 1945, the Home Ministry ordered local government offices to establish a prostitution service for allied soldiers to preserve the "purity" of the "Japanese race". Events 43 BC - Octavian, later known as Augustus compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul. Year 1945 ( MCMXLV) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar Prostitution is the act of performing Sexual activity in exchange for Money. The official declaration stated that : "Through the sacrifice of thousands of "Okichis" of the Shōwa era, we shall construct a dike to hold back the mad frenzy of the occupation troops and cultivate and preserve the purity of our race long into the future. The, or Shōwa era, is the period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa ( Hirohito) from December 25, 1926 to . . . " [53]
Canada
In Canada, the eugenics movement took place early in the 20th century, particularly in Alberta, and was quite popular. Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. The Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta was enacted in 1928, focusing the movement on the sterilization of mentally deficient individuals, as determined by the Alberta Eugenics Board. In 1928 the Legislative Assembly of Alberta, Canada, enacted the Sexual Sterilization Act. Mental retardation is a generalized triarchic disorder characterized by subaverage cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors with onset before the age In 1928 the Province of Alberta, Canada, passed legislation that enabled the government to perform Involuntary sterilizations on individuals classified as mentally The campaign to enforce this action was backed by groups such as the United Farm Women's Group, including key member Emily Murphy. Emily Murphy ( March 14 1868 - October 17 1933) was a Canadian Women's rights Activist.
Individuals were assessed using IQ tests like the Stanford-Binet. An Intelligence Quotient or IQ is a score derived from one of several different Standardized tests attempting to measure Intelligence. This posed a problem to new immigrants arriving in Canada, as many had not mastered the English language, and often their scores denoted them as having impaired intellectual functioning. Immigration to Canada is the process by which people migrate to Canada and become nationals of the country As a result, many of those sterilized under the Sexual Sterilization Act were immigrants who were unfairly categorized.
The popularity of the eugenics movement peaked during the depression. Individuals sought an explanation for the financial problems of the nation, and the notion of defective breeding became a scapegoat; citizens blamed individuals considered to be subhuman. scapegoat was a Goat that was driven off into the wilderness as part of the ceremonies of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement in Judaism during the times The end of the Canadian eugenics movement was brought about when the Sexual Sterilization Act was repealed in 1972.
Australia
The policy of removing Aboriginal children from their parents emerged from an opinion based on Eugenics theory in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Australia that the 'full-blood' tribal Aborigine would be unable to sustain itself, and was doomed to inevitable extinction, as at the time huge numbers of aborigines were in fact dying out, from diseases caught from European settlers. Indigenous Australians are descendants of the first known human inhabitants of the Australian continent and its nearby islands. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The twentieth century of the Common Era began on A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally consists of a Social group existing before the development of or outside of States Many anthropologists use [54] An ideology at the time held that mankind could be divided into a civilisational hierarchy. An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics This white supremacist notion supposed that Northern Europeans were superior in civilisation and that Aborigines were inferior. According to this view, the increasing numbers of mixed-descent children in Australia, labelled as 'half-castes' (or alternatively 'crossbreeds', 'quadroons' and 'octoroons'). In the first half of the twentieth century, this led to policies and legislation that resulted in the removal of children from their tribe. [55] The stated aim was to culturally assimilate mixed-descent people into contemporary Australian society. A region or society where several different groups are spontaneously assimilated is sometimes referred to as a Melting pot. The terms multiracial and mixed-race describe people whose ancestries come from different races. In all states and territories legislation was passed in the early years of the twentieth century which gave Aboriginal protectors guardianship rights over Aborigines up to the age of sixteen or twenty-one. Policemen or other agents of the state (such as Aboriginal Protection Officers), were given the power to locate and transfer babies and children of mixed descent, from their communities into institutions. In these Australian states and territories, half-caste institutions (both government or missionary) were established in the early decades of the twentieth-century for the reception of these separated children. A missionary is a member of a Religion who works to convert those who do not share the missionary's faith someone who proselytizes. [56][57] The 2002 movie Rabbit-Proof Fence portrays this system and the harrowing consequences of attempting to overcome it.
In 1915 A.O. Neville was appointed the second Western Australia State Chief Protector of Aborigines. Auber Octavius Neville (20 October 1875&ndash18 April 1954 was a public servant notably Chief Protector of Aborigines, in Western Australia. The role of Protectors of Aborigines resulted from a recommendation of the report of the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Aborigines (British Settlements During the next quarter-century, he presided over the now notorious 'Assimilation' policy of removing mixed-race Aboriginal children from their parents. This is an article about a class of people as identified and defined within Australian law This policy in turn created the Stolen Generations and set in motion a grieving process that through the now widely accepted concept of trans-generational grief, would affect many generations to come. In 1936 Neville became the Commissioner for Native Affairs, a post he held until his retirement in 1940.
Neville believed that biological absorption was the key to 'uplifting the Native race. ' Speaking before the Moseley Royal Commission, which investigated the administration of Aboriginals in 1934, he defended the policies of forced settlement, removing children from parents, surveillance, discipline and punishment, arguing that "they have to be protected against themselves whether they like it or not. The Moseley Royal Commission, officially titled the Royal Commission Appointed to Investigate Report and Advise Upon Matters in Relation to the Condition and Treatment of Aborigines They cannot remain as they are. The sore spot requires the application of the surgeon's knife for the good of the patient, and probably against the patients will. "
In his twilight years Neville continued to actively promote his policy. Towards the end of his career, Neville published Australia's Coloured Minority, a text outlining his plan for the biological absorption of aboriginal people into white Australia. [58] [59]
Sweden
- See also: Homo Sapiens 1900 and Herman Lundborg
From about 1934 to until 1975, Sweden sterilized more than 62,000 people with Herman Lundborg in the lead of the project. Homo Sapiens 1900 is a documentary directed by Peter Cohen, about various Eugenics methods that were in practise in Europe during the first part of the 20th century Herman Lundborg was a Swedish Racialist and Eugenicist and partially responsible for Sweden's eugenics program "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. Herman Lundborg was a Swedish Racialist and Eugenicist and partially responsible for Sweden's eugenics program [60] Sweden's large-scale eugenics program targeted the mentally ill. Most sterilizations were voluntary, but nine per cent of the sterilized were more or less forced to do so. As was the case in other programs, ethnicity and race were believed to be connected to mental and physical health. Still, a comprehensive critical investigation showed there is no evidence the Swedish sterilization programme targeted ethnic minorities [61]. While many Swedes disliked the program, politicians generally supported it; the left supported it more as a means of promoting social health, while amongst the right it was more about racial protectionism. In 1999 the Swedish government began paying compensation to the victims and their families.
Britain
In Britain, eugenics never received significant state funding, but it was supported by many prominent figures of different political persuasions before World War I, including Conservative Arthur Balfour, the future Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Fabian socialists such as George Bernard Shaw and H.G. Wells. The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative and Unionist Party) is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Arthur James Balfour 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC (25 July 1848 - 19 March 1930 was a British Conservative politician and Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC, PC (Can ( 30 November 1874 The Fabian Society is a British Intellectual Socialist movement whose purpose is to advance the principles of Social democracy via Gradualist George Bernard Shaw ( (26 July 1856 &ndash 2 November 1950 was an Irish Playwright. Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 &ndash 13 August 1946 He was an outspoken socialist and a pacifist, his later works becoming increasingly political [6] Furthermore, its emphasis was more upon class, rather than race. [62] Indeed, Galton expressed these views during a lecture in 1901 in which he placed the British society into groups. These groupings are shown in the figure and indicate the proportion of society falling into each group and their perceived genetic worth. Galton suggested that negative eugenics (i. e. an attempt to prevent them from bearing offspring) should be applied only to those in the lowest social group (the "Undesirables"), while positive eugenics applied to the higher classes. However, he appreciated the worth of the higher working classes to society and industry.
Sterilisation programmes were never legalised, although some were carried out in private upon the mentally ill by clinicians who were in favour of a more widespread eugenics plan. [62] (Sterilization had, in fact, been carried out to prevent masturbation in mentally ill patients since the 1820s, long before the eugenics movement. ) Indeed, those in support of eugenics shifted their lobbying of Parliament from enforced to voluntary sterilization, in the hope of achieving more legal recognition. [62] But leave for the Labour Party Member of Parliament Major A. The Labour Party is a Political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century it has been since the 1920s the principal party of the A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a Parliament. G. Church, to propose a Private Member's Bill in 1931, which would legalise the operation for voluntary sterilization, was rejected by 167 votes to 89. A Private Member's Bill is a proposed Law introduced by a backbench member of Parliament, whether from the government or the opposition side to that [63]
The popularity of eugenics in Britain was reflected by the fact that only two universities established courses in this field (University College London and Liverpool University), and the position of a professorship in eugenics was never created at either. University College London ( UCL) is a multi-faculty university institution based in the United Kingdom and a constituent college of the University of London The University of Liverpool is a University in the city of Liverpool, England. The Galton Institute, affiliated to UCL, was headed by Galton's protégé, Karl Pearson. The Galton Institute is a Learned society based in the United Kingdom. Karl Pearson FRS ( March 27 1857 &ndash April 27 1936) established the disciplineof Mathematical statistics.
Other countries
Almost all non-Catholic Western nations adopted some eugenic legislations. In July 1933 Germany passed a law allowing for the involuntary sterilization of "hereditary and incurable drunkards, sexual criminals, lunatics, and those suffering from an incurable disease which would be passed on to their offspring. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. "[64] Two provinces in Canada carried out thousands of compulsory sterilizations, and these lasted into the 1970s. Compulsory sterilization programs are government policies which attempt to force people to undergo surgical sterilization. Many First Nations (native Canadians) were targeted, as well as immigrants from Eastern Europe, as the program identified racial and ethnic minorities to be genetically inferior. First Nations is a term of Ethnicity that refers to the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis people Besides the large-scale program in the United States, other nations included Australia, Norway, France, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, and Switzerland with programs to sterilize people the government declared to be mentally deficient. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. Norway ( Norwegian: Norge ( Bokmål) or Noreg ( Nynorsk) officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Constitutional This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Finland, officially the Republic of Finland ( is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. The Kingdom of Denmark ( ˈd̥ænmɑɡ̊ (archaic ˈd̥anmɑːɡ̊ commonly known as Denmark, is a country in the Scandinavian region of northern Europe Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia ( Eesti or Eesti Vabariik) is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region Iceland, officially the Republic of Iceland ( ( Ísland or Lýðveldið Ísland ( Switzerland (English pronunciation; Schweiz Swiss German: Schwyz or Schwiiz Suisse Svizzera Svizra officially the Swiss Confederation Singapore practiced a limited form of eugenics that involved discouraging marriage between university graduates and the rest through segregation in matchmaking agencies, in the hope that the former would produce better children. Singapore A university is an institution of Higher education and Research, which grants Academic degrees in a variety of subjects [65]
Marginalization after World War II
After the experience of Nazi Germany, many ideas about "racial hygiene" and "unfit" members of society were publicly renounced by politicians and members of the scientific community. Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers The Nuremberg Trials against former Nazi leaders revealed to the world many of the regime's genocidal practices and resulted in formalized policies of medical ethics and the 1950 UNESCO statement on race. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 Many scientific societies released their own similar "race statements" over the years, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, developed in response to abuses during the Second World War, was adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and affirmed, "Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly ( 10 December 1948 at Palais The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security "[66] In continuation, the 1978 UNESCO declaration on race and racial prejudice states that the fundamental equality of all human beings is the ideal toward which ethics and science should converge. United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 [67]
In reaction to Nazi abuses, eugenics became almost universally reviled in many of the nations where it had once been popular (however, some eugenics programs, including sterilization, continued quietly for decades). Many pre-war eugenicists engaged in what they later labeled "crypto-eugenics", purposefully taking their eugenic beliefs "underground" and becoming respected anthropologists, biologists and geneticists in the postwar world (including Robert Yerkes in the U. Robert Mearns Yerkes ( May 26, 1876 – February 3, 1956) was an American Psychologist, Ethologist, and S. and Otmar von Verschuer in Germany). Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer ( 16 July 1896 – 8 August 1969) was a German human Biologist and eugenicist Californian eugenicist Paul Popenoe founded marriage counseling during the 1950s, a career change which grew from his eugenic interests in promoting "healthy marriages" between "fit" couples. Paul Bowman Popenoe ( October 16, 1888 - June 19, 1979) was an American Agricultural explorer, eugenicist, influential Relationship counseling is the process of Counseling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences [68]
The American Life League, an opponent of abortion, charges that eugenics was merely "re-packaged" after the war, and promoted anew in the guise of the population-control and environmentalism movements. One of the largest Pro-life organizations in the United States, according to their website American Life League, or ALL, opposes all forms of Abortion They claim, for example, that Planned Parenthood was funded and cultivated by the Eugenics Society for these reasons. Planned Parenthood is the collective name of organizations worldwide who are members of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF Julian Huxley, the first Director-General of UNESCO and a founder of the World Wildlife Fund was also a Eugenics Society president and a strong supporter of eugenics[69]
[E]ven though it is quite true that any radical eugenic policy will be for many years politically and psychologically impossible, it will be important for UNESCO to see that the eugenic problem is examined with the greatest care, and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that now is unthinkable may at least become thinkable. Sir Julian Sorell Huxley FRS ( 22 June 1887 &ndash 14 February 1975) was an English Evolutionary biologist United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 --Julian Huxley[70]
High school and college textbooks from the 1920s through the '40s often had chapters touting the scientific progress to be had from applying eugenic principles to the population. Many early scientific journals devoted to heredity in general were run by eugenicists and featured eugenics articles alongside studies of heredity in nonhuman organisms. After eugenics fell out of scientific favor, most references to eugenics were removed from textbooks and subsequent editions of relevant journals. Even the names of some journals changed to reflect new attitudes. For example, Eugenics Quarterly became Social Biology in 1969 (the journal still exists today, though it looks little like its predecessor). Notable members of the American Eugenics Society (1922–94) during the second half of the 20th century included Joseph Fletcher, originator of Situational ethics; Dr. The American Eugenics Society (AES was a society established in 1922 to promote Eugenics in the United States. Joseph Fletcher (1905-1991 was an American professor who founded the theory of Situational ethics in the 1960s and was a pioneer in the field of Bioethics Situational ethics, or situation ethics, is a Christian ethical theory that was principally developed in the 1960s by the Episcopal priest Joseph Fletcher Clarence Gamble of the Procter & Gamble fortune; and Garrett Hardin, a population control advocate and author of the essay The Tragedy of the Commons. See also Clarence Gamble (tennis Clarence J Gamble, married to Sarah Merry Bradley-Gamble was the heir of the Procter and Gamble soap company fortune Procter & Gamble Co ( P&G,) is a Fortune 500, American global corporation based in Cincinnati Ohio, that manufactures a wide Garrett James Hardin ( April 21, 1915 &ndash September 14, 2003) was a leading and controversial Ecologist from Dallas Population control is the practice of limiting population increase usually by reducing the Birth rate. The Tragedy of the Commons is the title of an influential article written by Garrett Hardin, first published in the journal Science in 1968.
In the United States, the eugenics movement had largely lost most popular and political support by the end of the 1930s while forced sterilizations mostly ended in the 1960s with the last performed in 1981. [71] Many US states continued to prohibit biracial marriages with "anti-miscegenation laws" such as Virginia's The Racial Integrity Act of 1924, until they were over-ruled by the Supreme Court in 1967 in Loving v. Virginia. On March 20, 1924 the Virginia Legislature ( United States) passed two closely related Eugenics laws SB 219 entitled " The Racial Integrity Loving v Virginia,, was a landmark Civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia 's Anti-miscegenation [72] The Immigration Restriction Act of 1924, which was designed to limit the immigration of "dysgenic" Italians, and eastern European Jews, was repealed and replaced by the Immigration and Nationality Act in 1965. The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson-Reed Act, including the National Origins Act, Asian Exclusion Act, (43 Statutes-at-Large 153 was a United The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 ( Hart-Celler Act, INS Act of 1965,) abolished the national-origin Quotas that had been in place in the [73]
However, some prominent academics continued to support eugenics after the war. In 1963 the Ciba Foundation convened a conference in London under the title “Man and His Future,” at which three distinguished biologists and Nobel laureates (Hermann Muller, Joshua Lederberg, and Francis Crick) all spoke strongly in favor of eugenics. Hermann Müller may refer to Hermann Müller (botanist (1829-1883 German botanist with whom Darwin corresponded Hermann Müller (Thurgau Joshua Lederberg ( May 23, 1925 &ndash February 2, 2008) was an American molecular biologist known for his work in Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004 Ph [74]
A few nations, notably, Canada and Sweden, maintained large-scale eugenics programs, including forced sterilization of mentally handicapped individuals, as well as other practices, until the 1970s. Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation.
Modern eugenics, genetic engineering, and ethical re-evaluation
Beginning in the 1980s, the history and concept of eugenics were widely discussed as knowledge about genetics advanced significantly. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is Endeavors such as the Human Genome Project made the effective modification of the human species seem possible again (as did Darwin's initial theory of evolution in the 1860s, along with the rediscovery of Mendel's laws in the early 20th century). The Human Genome Project (HGP was an international Scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA Mendelian inheritance (or Mendelian genetics or Mendelism) is a set of primary tenets relating to the transmission of hereditary characteristics from parent The difference at the beginning of the 21st century was the guarded attitude towards eugenics, which had become a watchword to be feared rather than embraced.
Suggestions and ideas
A few scientific researchers such as psychologist Richard Lynn, psychologist Raymond Cattell, and doctor Gregory Stock have openly called for eugenic policies using modern technology, but they represent a minority opinion in current scientific and cultural circles. Richard Lynn (born 1930 is a British Professor Emeritus of Psychology who is known for his controversial views on racial and Raymond Bernard Cattell ( 20 March, 1905 – 2 February, 1998) was a British and American psychologist known for Gregory Stock is a biophysicist, best-selling author biotech entrepreneur and the former director of the Program on Medicine Technology and Society at UCLA ’s [75] One attempted implementation of a form of eugenics was a "genius sperm bank" (1980–99) created by Robert Klark Graham, from which nearly 230 children were conceived (the best known donors were Nobel Prize winners William Shockley and J.D.Watson). The Repository for Germinal Choice (originally known as the Hermann J Robert Klark Graham ( June 9 1906 – February 13 1997) was born in Harbor Springs Michigan, USA The Nobel Prize (Nobelpriset (Nobelprisen is a Swedish prize established in the 1895 will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel; it was first awarded in Peace, Literature William Bradford Shockley ( February 13, 1910 &ndash August 12, 1989) was a British -born American Physicist In the U. S. and Europe, though, these attempts have frequently been criticized as in the same spirit of classist and racist forms of eugenics of the 1930s. Because of its association with compulsory sterilization and the racial ideals of the Nazi Party, the word eugenics is rarely used by the advocates of such programs.
Eugenicists have argued that immigration from countries with low national IQ is undesirable. IQ and the Wealth of Nations is a Controversial 2002 book by Dr According to Raymond Cattell "when a country is opening its doors to immigration from diverse countries, it is like a farmer who buys his seeds from different sources by the sack, with sacks of different average quality of contents. Raymond Bernard Cattell ( 20 March, 1905 – 2 February, 1998) was a British and American psychologist known for "[76]
Cyprus
A similar screening policy (including prenatal screening and abortion) intended to reduce the incidence of thalassemia exists on both sides of the island of Cyprus. Thalassemia (from Greek θαλασσα thalassa sea + αίμα haima blood British spelling "thalassaemia" is an inherited Autosomal recessive Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía Since the program's implementation in the 1970s, it has reduced the ratio of children born with the hereditary blood disease from 1 out of every 158 births to almost zero. Tests for the gene are compulsory for both partners, prior to church wedding.
United States
There are some states that require a blood test prior to marriage. [77] While these tests are typically restricted to the detection of the sexually transmitted disease syphilis (which was the most common STD at the time these laws were enacted), some partners will voluntarily test for other diseases and genetic incompatibilities. A sexually transmitted disease ( STD) or venereal disease ( VD) is an illness that has a significant probability of transmission between Humans Syphilis is a Sexually transmitted disease caused by the spirochetal Bacterium Treponema pallidum pallidum.
Harris polls in 1986 and 1992 recorded majority public support for limited forms of germ-line intervention, especially to prevent "children inheriting usually fatal genetic disease". [78]
In 1971, lobbying by the US organization The International Association for Voluntary Sterilization (AVS), led politicians and officials at the Office for Equal Opportunity to pay for voluntary sterilization of low income Americans for birth-control purposes. EngenderHealth is a 501(c(3 Nonprofit organization based in New York, internationally active in Contraception, HIV and AIDS, AVS also focused on the International community, and its lobbying led to a US foreign policy and funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development to encourage Third World/Developing World countries to utilise abortion and sterilization in order to control their population growth. The United States Agency for International Development (or USAID) is the United States federal government organization responsible for most non- military Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically Third World is a name given to nations that are generally considered to be underdeveloped economically For further information see EngenderHealth. EngenderHealth is a 501(c(3 Nonprofit organization based in New York, internationally active in Contraception, HIV and AIDS,
Dor Yeshorim
Dor Yeshorim, a program which seeks to reduce the incidence of Tay-Sachs disease, Cystic Fibrosis, Canavan disease, Fanconi anemia, Familial Dysautonomia, Glycogen storage disease, Bloom's Syndrome, Gaucher Disease, Niemann-Pick Disease, and Mucolipidosis IV among certain Jewish communities, is another screening program which has drawn comparisons with liberal eugenics. Dor Yeshorim ( Hebrew: "upright generation" cf Psalms 1122 also called Committee for Prevention of Genetic Diseases, is an organization that Tay-Sachs disease (abbreviated TSD, also known as GM2 Gangliosidosis, Hexosaminidase A deficiency or Sphingolipidosis) is a Genetic Cystic fibrosis (also known as CF, mucoviscoidosis, or mucoviscidosis) is a hereditary disease affecting the exocrine (mucus glands of the lungs Canavan disease, also called Canavan-Van Bogaert-Bertrand disease, aspartoacylase deficiency or aminoacylase 2 deficiency, is an autosomal Fanconi anemia (FA is a genetic disease that affects children and adults from all ethnic backgrounds Familial dysautonomia, or FD, sometimes called Riley-Day syndrome is a disorder of the Autonomic nervous system which affects the development and survival Glycogen storage disease (synonyms glycogenosis, dextrinosis) is any one of several inborn errors of metabolism that result from Enzyme defects Bloom syndrome (BLM is a rare Autosomal Recessive chromosomal disorder characterized by a high frequency of breaks and rearrangements in an affected person's Gaucher's disease ( is the most common of the Lysosomal storage diseases It is caused by a deficiency of the enzyme Glucocerebrosidase, leading to an accumulation Niemann-Pick Disease is one of a group of Lysosome storage diseases that affect Metabolism and that are caused by genetic mutations Mucolipidosis type IV ( ML IV) like other types of Mucolipidosis is an inherited neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder Orthodox Judaism is the formulation of Judaism that adheres to a relatively strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics first canonized Liberal eugenics is an Ideology which advocates the use of reproductive and genetic technologies where the choice of the goals of enhancing human [10] In Israel, at the expense of the state, the general public is advised to carry out genetic tests to diagnose these diseases before the birth of a baby. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. If an unborn baby is diagnosed with one of these diseases among which Tay-Sachs is the most commonly known, the pregnancy may be terminated, subject to consent. Most other Ashkenazi Jewish communities also run screening programs because of the higher incidence of genetic diseases. Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim ( Hebrew: אַשְׁכֲּנָזִים, ˌaʃkəˈnazim sing In some Jewish communities, the ancient custom of matchmaking (shidduch) is still practiced, and in order to attempt to prevent the tragedy of infant death which always results from being homozygous for Tay-Sachs, associations such as the strongly observant Dor Yeshorim (which was founded by a rabbi who lost four children to Tay-Sachs with the purpose of preventing others from suffering the same tragedy) test young couples to check whether they carry a risk of passing on fatal conditions. Zygosity refers to the genetic condition of a Zygote. In genetics zygosity describes the similarity or dissimilarity of DNA between Homologous If both the young man and woman are Tay-Sachs carriers, it is common for the match to be broken off. Judaism, like numerous other religions, discourages abortion unless there is a risk to the mother, in which case her needs take precedence. The effort is not aimed at eradicating the hereditary traits, but rather at the occurrence of homozygosity. The actual impact of this program on allele frequencies is unknown, but little impact would be expected because the program does not impose genetic selection. An allele (ˈæliːl (UK /əˈliːl/ (US (from the Greek αλληλος allelos, meaning each other) is one member of a pair or series of different forms Instead, it encourages disassortative mating. Disassortative sexual selection is a form of Sexual selection in which one sex chooses the other in such a way that the offspring benefits from the diversity of the parental
Ethical re-assessment
Ideological social determinists, some of which have obtained college degrees in fields relevant to eugenics, often describe eugenics as a pseudoscience. Social determinism is the concept that the social circumstances at a particular moment in time determine which technologies are adopted and how Modern inquiries into the potential use of genetic engineering have led to an increased invocation of the history of eugenics in discussions of bioethics, most often as a cautionary tale. Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about by advances in Biology and Medicine. Some ethicists suggest that even non-coercive eugenics programs would be inherently unethical, though this view has been challenged by such thinkers as Nicholas Agar. Bioethics is the philosophical study of the ethical controversies brought about by advances in Biology and Medicine. Nicholas Agar is a professor of Ethics and a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW [79]
In modern bioethics literature, the history of eugenics presents many moral and ethical questions. Commentators have suggested the new eugenics will come from reproductive technologies that will allow parents to create "designer babies" (what the biologist Lee M. Silver prominently called "reprogenetics"). The colloquial term " designer baby " has been used in popular scientific and Bioethics literature to specify a child whose hereditary makeup ( Genotype) would Lee M Silver (born 1952 is a Professor at Princeton University in the Department of Molecular Biology and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Reprogenetics is a term referring to the merging of reproductive and genetic technologies expected to happen in the near future as techniques like Germinal choice It has been argued that this non-coercive form of biological improvement will be predominantly motivated by individual competitiveness and the desire to create the best opportunities for children, rather than an urge to improve the species as a whole, which characterized the early 20th-century forms of eugenics. Because of this non-coercive nature, lack of involvement by the state and a difference in goals, some commentators have questioned whether such activities are eugenics or something else altogether. But critics note that Francis Galton, did not advocate coercion when he defined the principles of eugenics. Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an In other words, eugenics does not mean coercion. It is, according to Galton who originated the term, the proper label for bioengineering of better human beings.
Daniel Kevles argues that eugenics and the conservation of natural resources are similar propositions. Daniel J Kevles is an American historian of science. He is currently the Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, a position he assumed in 2001 Both can be practiced foolishly so as to abuse individual rights, but both can be practiced wisely.
Some disability activists argue that, although their impairments may cause them pain or discomfort, what really disables them as members of society is a sociocultural system that does not recognize their right to genuinely equal treatment. They express skepticism that any form of eugenics could be to the benefit of the disabled considering their treatment by historical eugenic campaigns.
James D. Watson, the first director of the Human Genome Project, initiated the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Program (ELSI) which has funded a number of studies into the implications of human genetic engineering (along with a prominent website on the history of eugenics), because:
- In putting ethics so soon into the genome agenda, I was responding to my own personal fear that all too soon critics of the Genome Project would point out that I was a representative of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory that once housed the controversial Eugenics Record Office. The Human Genome Project (HGP was an international Scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL is a private non-profit institution with research programs focusing on Cancer, Neurobiology, Plant genetics, The Eugenics Record Office at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Cold Spring Harbor New York was a center for Eugenics and human Heredity research My not forming a genome ethics program quickly might be falsely used as evidence that I was a closet eugenicist, having as my real long-term purpose the unambiguous identification of genes that lead to social and occupational stratification as well as genes justifying racial discrimination. [80]
Distinguished geneticists including Nobel Prize-winners John Sulston ("I don't think one ought to bring a clearly disabled child into the world")[81] and Watson ("Once you have a way in which you can improve our children, no one can stop it")[82] support genetic screening. John E Sulston, FRS (born March 27, 1942) is a British biologist and the 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine laureate Genetic testing allows the genetic Diagnosis of vulnerabilities to inherited Diseases, and can also be used to determine a person's Ancestry. Which ideas should be described as "eugenic" are still controversial in both public and scholarly spheres. Some observers such as Philip Kitcher have described the use of genetic screening by parents as making possible a form of "voluntary" eugenics. Philip Stuart Kitcher (born 1947 is a British Philosophy professor who specializes in the Philosophy of science. [83]
Some modern subcultures advocate different forms of eugenics assisted by human cloning and human genetic engineering, sometimes even as part of a new religious movement (see Raëlism, Cosmotheism, or Prometheism). For the term in biology see Subculture (biology. For the song by New Order see Sub-culture (song. Human cloning is the creation of a genetically identical copy of a Human being human cell, or human tissue. Human genetic engineering is the Genetic engineering of humans by modifying the Genotype of the unborn individual to control what traits it will possess when born A new religious movement or NRM is a term used to refer to a religious faith or an ethical spiritual or philosophical movement of recent origin that is not part Raëlism or Raëlian Church consists of the practitioners of a UFO religion founded by a former French sports-car journalist and test driver named Claude These groups also talk of "neo-eugenics". "conscious evolution", or "genetic freedom".
Behavioral traits often identified as potential targets for modification through human genetic engineering include intelligence, depression, schizophrenia, alcoholism, sexual behavior (and orientation) and criminality. Human genetic engineering is the Genetic engineering of humans by modifying the Genotype of the unborn individual to control what traits it will possess when born
Criticism
Diseases vs. traits
While the science of genetics has increasingly provided means by which certain characteristics and conditions can be identified and understood, given the complexity of human genetics, culture, and psychology there is at this point no agreed objective means of determining which traits might be ultimately desirable or undesirable. Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is Eugenic manipulations that reduce the propensity for criminality and violence, for example, might result in the population being enslaved by an outside aggressor it can no longer defend itself against. On the other hand, genetic diseases like hemochromatosis can increase susceptibility to illness, cause physical deformities, and other dysfunctions. A genetic disorder is a condition caused by abnormalities in Genes or Chromosomes While some diseases such as Cancer, are due to genetic abnormalities acquired Haemochromatosis, also spelled hemochromatosis (see spelling differences) also called siderophilia Eugenic measures against many of these diseases are already being undertaken in societies around the world, while measures against traits that affect more subtle, poorly understood traits, such as criminality, are relegated to the realm of speculation and science fiction. The effects of diseases are essentially wholly negative, and societies everywhere seek to reduce their impact by various means, some of which are eugenic in all but name. The other traits that are discussed have positive as well as negative effects and are not generally targeted at present anywhere.
Slippery slope
A common criticism of eugenics is that it inevitably leads to measures that are unethical (Lynn 2001). A hypothetical scenario posits that if one racial minority group is on average less intelligent than the racial majority group, then it is more likely that the racial minority group will be submitted to a eugenics program rather than the least intelligent members of the whole population.
H. L. Kaye wrote of "the obvious truth that eugenics has been discredited by Hitler's crimes," (Kaye 1989). R. L. Hayman argued "the eugenics movement is an anachronism, its political implications exposed by the Holocaust," (Hayman 1990).
Steven Pinker has stated that it is "a conventional wisdom among left-leaning academics that genes imply genocide. Steven Arthur Pinker (born September 18 1954 is a prominent Canadian - American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, and author " He has responded to this "conventional wisdom" by comparing the history of Marxism, which had the opposite position on genes to that of Nazism:
But the 20th century suffered "two" ideologies that led to genocides. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The other one, Marxism, had no use for race, didn't believe in genes and denied that human nature was a meaningful concept. Clearly, it's not an emphasis on genes or evolution that is dangerous. It's the desire to remake humanity by coercive means (eugenics or social engineering) and the belief that humanity advances through a struggle in which superior groups (race or classes) triumph over inferior ones. [84]
Richard Lynn broadens his criticism of eugenics, by arguing that any social philosophy is capable of ethical misuse. Richard Lynn (born 1930 is a British Professor Emeritus of Psychology who is known for his controversial views on racial and Though Christian principles have aided in the abolition of slavery and the establishment of welfare programs, he notes that the Christian church has also burned many dissidents at the stake and allowed for the killing of large numbers of innocent people by Crusaders. The Crusades were a series of military campaigns of a religious character waged by much of Christian Europe against external and internal opponents Lynn argues the appropriate response is to condemn these killings, but believes Christianity does not "inevitably [lead] to the extermination of those who do not accept its doctrines," (Lynn 2001).
Genetic diversity
Eugenic policies could also lead to loss of genetic diversity, in which case a culturally accepted improvement of the gene pool would very likely, as evidenced in numerous instances in isolated island populations (e. Genetic diversity is a level of Biodiversity that refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species g. the Dodo, Raphus cucullatus, of Mauritius) result in extinction due to increased vulnerability to disease, reduced ability to adapt to environmental change and other factors both known and unknown. The dodo ( Raphus cucullatus) was a Flightless bird endemic to the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. A long-term eugenics plan might lead to a scenario similar to this because the elimination of traits deemed undesirable would reduce genetic diversity by definition. (Galton 2001, 48).
Proponents of eugenics argue that in any one generation any realistic program would make only minor changes in the gene pool, giving plenty of time to reverse direction if unintended consequences emerge, reducing the likelihood of the elimination of desirable genes. Unintended consequences are outcomes that are not (or not limited to what the actor intended in a particular situation Proponents of eugenics argue that any appreciable reduction in diversity is so far in the future that little concern is needed for now. [85]
The possible elimination of the autism genotype is a significant political issue in the autism rights movement, which claims autism is a form of neurodiversity. Language development. The terminology The genotype is the genetic constitution of a cell an organism or an individual (i The autism rights movement ( ARM) is a Social movement that encourages autistic people their caregivers and society to adopt a position of Neurodiversity Neurodiversity is an idea that asserts that atypical (neurodivergent neurological development is a normal human difference that is to be tolerated and respected as any other Many advocates of Down Syndrome rights also consider Down Syndrome (Trisomy-21) a form of neurodiversity.
Heterozygous recessive traits
In some instances efforts to eradicate certain single-gene mutations would be nearly impossible. In the event the condition in question was a heterozygous recessive trait, the problem is that by eliminating the visible unwanted trait, there are still as many genes for the condition left in the gene pool as were eliminated according to the Hardy-Weinberg principle, which states that a population's genetics are defined as pp+2pq+qq at equilibrium. Zygosity refers to the genetic condition of a Zygote. In genetics zygosity describes the similarity or dissimilarity of DNA between Homologous With genetic testing it may be possible to detect all of the heterozygous recessive traits, but only at great cost with the current technology. Genetic testing allows the genetic Diagnosis of vulnerabilities to inherited Diseases, and can also be used to determine a person's Ancestry. Under normal circumstances it is only possible to eliminate a dominant allele from the gene pool. Recessive traits can be severely reduced, but never eliminated unless the complete genetic makeup of all members of the pool was known, as aforementioned. As only very few undesirable traits, such as Huntington's disease, are dominant, the practical value for "eliminating" traits is quite low. Huntington's disease, also called Huntington's chorea, chorea major, or HD, is a genetic neurological disorder characterized after
However, there are examples of eugenic acts that managed to lower the prevalence of recessive diseases, although not influencing the prevalence of heterozygote carriers of those diseases. The elevated prevalence of certain genetically transmitted diseases among the Ashkenazi Jewish population (Tay-Sachs, Cystic Fibrosis, Canavan's disease and Goucher's disease), has been decreased in current populations by the application of genetic screening. Tay-Sachs disease (abbreviated TSD, also known as GM2 Gangliosidosis, Hexosaminidase A deficiency or Sphingolipidosis) is a Genetic Cystic fibrosis (also known as CF, mucoviscoidosis, or mucoviscidosis) is a hereditary disease affecting the exocrine (mucus glands of the lungs [86]
Counterarguments
Dysgenics
Some supporters of eugenics allege that a dysgenic decline in intelligence is occurring, which may lead to the collapse of civilization, and justify eugenic programs on that basis. Dysgenics (and cacogenics) describes a system of breeding wherein artificial Selection is for traits that are deleterious or perceived as ethically
Potential benefits
Small differences in average IQ at the group level might theoretically have large effects on social outcomes. An Intelligence Quotient or IQ is a score derived from one of several different Standardized tests attempting to measure Intelligence. Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray altered the mean IQ (100) of the U. Richard J Herrnstein ( May 20 1930 – September 13 1994) was a prominent American researcher in animal This article is about the political scientist For other people with the same name see Charles Murray (disambiguation. S. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth's population sample by randomly deleting individuals below an IQ of 103 until the population mean reached 103. This calculation was conducted twice and averaged together to avoid error from the random selection. This test showed that the new group with an average IQ of 103 had a poverty rate 25% lower than a group with an average IQ of 100. Similar substantial correlations in high school drop-out rates, crime rates, and other outcomes were measured.
Indeed, many studies suggest that IQ correlates with various socioeconomic factors. However, to what extent IQ is a cause of these socioeconomic factors, as opposed to a consequence of them, is disputed. Studies have suggested, for example, that education increases an individual's IQ -- although other studies have shown that education has little to no effect.
See also
- Abortion
- Liberal eugenics
- Alberta Eugenics Board
- A.O. Neville
- Biological determinism
- Gattaca
- Genetic determinism
- Genetics and violence
- Inheritance of intelligence
- Leilani Muir
- John M. MacEachran
- Nature versus nurture
- Nazi eugenics
- One-child policy
- Race and intelligence
- Racial hygiene
- Repository for Germinal Choice
- Social Darwinism
- Social Justice
- Stolen Generation
- State racism, a concept coined by Michel Foucault
- Transhumanism
References
- ^ Currell, Susan; Christina Cogdell (2006). An Liberal eugenics is an Ideology which advocates the use of reproductive and genetic technologies where the choice of the goals of enhancing human In 1928 the Province of Alberta, Canada, passed legislation that enabled the government to perform Involuntary sterilizations on individuals classified as mentally Auber Octavius Neville (20 October 1875&ndash18 April 1954 was a public servant notably Chief Protector of Aborigines, in Western Australia. Biological determinism, also called genetic determinism is the Hypothesis that biological factors such as an organism's individual genes (as opposed to social or environmental Gattaca is a 1997 science fiction Drama film written and directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke, Uma Genetic determinism is the belief that Genes determine physical and behavioral Phenotypes The term may be applied to the mapping of a single gene to a single phenotype Study of the heritability of IQ is a controversial field of research that includes biology psychology philosophy sociology and anthropology Leilani Marietta Muir (previously named Leilani Marie Scorah (born July 15, 1944, in Calgary) was the first person to file a successful law suit against John Malcolm MacEachran ( January 16, 1877 -1971 was a Canadian Philosopher and Psychologist, whose most notable credentials involved The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature" i Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany 's race-based social policies that placed the improvement of the race through Eugenics at the center of their The one-child policy is the Population control policy (or planned birth policy of the People's Republic of China (PRC The study of race and intelligence is a controversial field which seeks to determine whether or not human intellectual abilities vary between races The modern controversy Racial hygiene (often labeled a form of " Scientific racism " is the selection by a government of the putatively most physical intellectual and moral persons to raise The Repository for Germinal Choice (originally known as the Hermann J Social Darwinism is a theory that competition among all individuals groups nations or ideas drives Social evolution in human societies Social justice, sometimes called civil justice, refers to the concept of a Society in which Justice is achieved in every aspect of society rather than State racism is a Concept used by French Philosopher Michel Foucault to designate the reappropriation of the historical and political Discourse Michel Foucault ( (15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984 was a French philosopher, Historian, Intellectual, Critic and Sociologist. Transhumanism (sometimes symbolized by >H or H+) a term often used as a synonym for " Human enhancement " is an international intellectual Popular Eugenics: National Efficiency and American Mass Culture in The 1930s. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, p203. ISBN 082141691X.
- ^ The exact definition of eugenics has been a matter of debate since the term was coined. The definition of it as a "social philosophy" (that is, a philosophy with implications for social order) is not meant to be definitive, and is taken from "Development of a Eugenic Philosophy" by Frederick Osborn in American Sociological Review, Vol. Major General Frederick Henry Osborn ( 21 March 1889 — 5 January 1981) was an American philanthropist military leader and eugenicist The American Sociological Review is the flagship Journal of the American Sociological Association (ASA 2, No. 3 (Jun. , 1937) , pp. 389-397.
- ^ Galton, Francis (1883). Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development. London: Macmillan, p199.
- ^ Gordon, Linda (2002). The Moral Property of Women: A History of Birth Control Politics in America. University of Illinois Press, p196. ISBN 0252027647.
- ^ Keynes, John Maynard (1946). "Opening remarks: The Galton Lecture, 1946. The Eugenics Review, vol 38, no. 1, pp. 39-40. ". The Eugenics Review 38: 39-40.
- ^ a b Okuefuna, David. Racism: a history. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved on 2007-12-12. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 627 - Battle of Nineveh: A Byzantine army under Emperor Heraclius defeats Emperor Khosrau II 's Persian
- ^ Allen, Garland E. , Was Nazi eugenics created in the US?, Embo Reports, 2004
- ^ A discussion of the shifting meanings of the term can be found in Diane Paul, Controlling human heredity: 1865 to the present (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1995). ISBN 1-57392-343-5.
- ^ Eugenics: Encyclopedia II. Encyclopedia II. Retrieved on 2008-05-06. 2008 ( MMVIII) is the current year in accordance with the Gregorian calendar, a Leap year that started on Tuesday of the Common Events 1527 - Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance.
- ^ a b Glad, 2008
- ^ Rose, Nikolas (2007). Nikolas Rose (born 1947 is a prominent British sociologist and social theorist The Politics of Life Itself: Biomedicine, Power, and Subjectivity in the Twenty-First Century. Princenton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 372. ISBN 0691121915.
- ^ From Myth to Reason by Richard Buxton,ISBN 0753451107,1999, page 201,"But the exposure of deformed babies seems to have been a more widespread practice. For Athens, the most conclusive allusion is in Plato's Theaetetus"
- ^ Making Patriots by Walter Berns,2001,page 12,"and whose infants, if they chanced to be puny or ill-formed, were exposed in a chasm (the Apothetae) and left to die;"
- ^ Channel 4 - History - The Spartans
- ^ Allen G. Roper, Ancient Eugenics (Oxford: Cliveden Press, 1913), text at [1]
- ^ Haeckel, Ernst (1876). Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel ( February 16, 1834 — August 9, 1919)also written von Haeckel, was an eminent German The History of Creation, vol. I (English) pp. 170. New York: D. Appleton. “Among the Spartans all newly born children were subject to a careful examination or selection. All those that were weak, sickly, or affected with any bodily infirmity, were killed. Only the perfectly healthy and strong children were allowed to live, and they alone afterwards propagated the race. ”
- ^ Hitler, Adolf (1961). Hi and welcome to Wikipedia! Please understand that this article is frequently vandalized and vandalism is reverted immediately Hitler's Secret Book (in English). The Zweites Buch ("Second Book" and sometimes "Secret Book" is an unedited transcript of Adolf Hitler 's thoughts on foreign policy written New York: Grove Press, pp. 8-9, 17-18. ISBN 0394620038. OCLC 9830111. The OCLC Online Computer Library Center is according to its website a "nonprofit membership computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purpose “At one time the Spartans were capable of such a wise measure, but not our present, mendaciously sentimental, bourgeois patriotic nonsense. The rule of six thousand Spartans over three hundred and fifty thousand Helots was only thinkable in consequence of the high racial value of the Spartans. But this was the result of a systematic race preservation; thus Sparta must be regarded as the first Völkisch State. The exposure of the sick, weak, deformed children, in short, their destruction, was more decent and in truth a thousand times more humane than the wretched insanity of our day which preserves the most pathological subject, and indeed at any price, and yet takes the life of a hundred thousand healthy children in consequence of birth control or through abortions, in order subsequently to breed a race of degenerates burdened with illnesses. ”
- ^ Hawkins, Mike (1997). Social Darwinism in European and American Thought, 1860-1945: nature as model and nature as threat (in English). Cambridge University Press, pp. 276. ISBN 052157434X. OCLC 34705047. The OCLC Online Computer Library Center is according to its website a "nonprofit membership computer library service and research organization dedicated to the public purpose
- ^ See Chapter 3 in Donald A. MacKenzie, Statistics in Britain, 1865-1930: The social construction of scientific knowledge (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1981). Donald A MacKenzie is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
- ^ Francis Galton, "Hereditary talent and character", Macmillan's Magazine 12 (1865): 157-166 and 318-327; Francis Galton, Hereditary genius: an inquiry into its laws and consequences (London: Macmillan, 1869). Sir Francis Galton FRS ( 16 February 1822 &ndash 17 January 1911) half-cousin of Charles Darwin, was an
- ^ Galton, Hereditary Genius: 1.
- ^ Larson 2004, p. 179 "Galton coined the word "eugenics" in his 1883 book, Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development.
- ^ Francis Galton, Inquiries into human faculty and its development (London, Macmillan, 1883): 17, fn1.
- ^ Francis Galton, "Eugenics: Its definition, scope, and aims," The American Journal of Sociology 10:1 (July 1904).
- ^ See Chapters 2 and 6 in MacKenzie, Statistics in Britain.
- ^ Quoted in Selgelid, Michael J. 2000. Neugenics? Monash Bioethics Review 19 (4):9-33
- ^ The Nazi eugenics policies are discussed in a number of sources. A few of the more definitive ones are Robert Proctor, Racial hygiene: Medicine under the Nazis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988) and Dieter Kuntz, ed. , Deadly medicine: creating the master race (Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2004) (online exhibit). On the development of the racial hygiene movement before National Socialism, see Paul Weindling, Health, race and German politics between national unification and Nazism, 1870-1945 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989). Racial hygiene (often labeled a form of " Scientific racism " is the selection by a government of the putatively most physical intellectual and moral persons to raise
- ^ See Proctor, Racial hygiene, and Kuntz, ed. , Deadly medicine.
- ^ TOQ-Richard Lynn-Black BR-Vol 4 No 1
- ^ Glad, John (2006). Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century (in English). Hermitage Publishers. ISBN 1557791546. “I would like to add a comment to Dr. Glad’s clear and decisive puncturing of the balloon of myths surrounding the Nazi perversion of eugenics. (For that matter, they also claimed to be a party of socialism!) If we define eugenics as encompassing programs of human betterment, physical as well as mental, practices that benefit community in the local sense as well as the species in general, we can say that the Holocaust was the antithesis of eugenic practice. ”
- ^ Bell, Alexander Graham (1883). WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human race. Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf. Retrieved on 2007-12-13. Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. Events 1294 - Saint Celestine V abdicates the papacy after only five months Celestine hoped to return to his previous life
- ^ Bruce, Robert V (1990). Bell: Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude. Cornell University Press, pp 410; 417. ISBN 0801496918.
- ^ Indiana Supreme Court Legal History Lecture Series, "Three Generations of Imbeciles are Enough:" Reflections on 100 Years of Eugenics in Indiana, at [2]
- ^ Williams v. Smith, 131 NE 2 (Ind. ), 1921, text at [3]
- ^ Larson 2004, p. 194-195 Citing Buck v. Bell 274 U. Buck v Bell,, was the United States Supreme Court ruling that upheld a statute instituting Compulsory sterilization of the mentally retarded S. 200, 205 (1927)
- ^ The history of eugenics in the United States is discussed at length in Mark Haller, Eugenics: Hereditarian attitudes in American thought (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1963) and Daniel Kevles, In the name of eugenics: Genetics and the uses of human heredity (New York: Knopf, 1985), the latter being the standard survey work on the subject. Daniel J Kevles is an American historian of science. He is currently the Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, a position he assumed in 2001
- ^ a b The connections between U. S. and Nazi eugenicists is discussed in Edwin Black, "Eugenics and the Nazis -- the California connection", San Francisco Chronicle (9 November 2003), as well as Black's War Against the Weak (New York: Four Wars Eight Windows, 2003). Events 694 - Egica, a king of the Visigoths of Hispania, accuses Jews of aiding Muslims sentencing all Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Stefan Kühl's work, The Nazi connection: Eugenics, American racism, and German National Socialism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), is considered the standard scholarly work on the subject.
- ^ See Kevles, In the name of eugenics.
- ^ See Pg. 23 " 'Human Progress’ through Eugenics" from Psychology of Mental Fossils, toward an Archeo-psychology by Douglas Keith Candland at [4]
- ^ Hamilton Cravens, The triumph of evolution: American scientists and the heredity-environment controversy, 1900-1941 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1978): 179.
- ^ Paul Lombardo, "Eugenic Sterilization Laws," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay8text.html.
- ^ Steve Sailer, "Free To Choose? Insemination, Immigration, And Eugenics," http://www.vdare.com/sailer/050705_immigration.htm
- ^ Paul Lombardo, "Eugenics Laws Restricting Immigration," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay9text.html.
- ^ Paul Lombardo, "Eugenic Laws Against Race-Mixing," essay in the Eugenics Archive, available online at http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/html/eugenics/essay7text.html.
- ^ See Lombardo, "Eugenics Laws Restricting Immigration"; and Stephen Jay Gould, The mismeasure of man (New York: Norton, 1981). Stephen Jay Gould (September 10 1941 &ndash May 20 2002 was a prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science
- ^ Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The Bell Curve (Free Press, 1994): 5; and Mark Syderman Richard Herrnstein, "Intelligence tests and the Immigration Act of 1924," American Psychologist 38 (1983): 986-995. Richard J Herrnstein ( May 20 1930 – September 13 1994) was a prominent American researcher in animal Charles Murray is the name of several notable people Charles Murray 1st Earl of Dunmore (1661–1710 Charles Murray 7th Earl of Dunmore See Normal distribution for the "bell curve" in Statistics and see Bell curve grading for the "bell curve" in grading
- ^ "The National Eugenic Law" The 107th law that Japanese Government promulgated in 1940 (国民優生法) 第一条 本法ハ悪質ナル遺伝性疾患ノ素質ヲ有スル者ノ増加ヲ防遏スルト共ニ健全ナル素質ヲ有スル者ノ増加ヲ図リ以テ国民素質ノ向上ヲ期スルコトヲ目的トス, Kimura, Jurisprudence in Genetics, http://www.bioethics.jp/licht_genetics.html
- ^ "The Eugenic Protection Law" (国民優生法)The 107th law that Japanese Government promulgated in 1940 (国民優生法) 第二条 本法ニ於テ優生手術ト称スルハ生殖ヲ不能ナラシムル手術又ハ処置ニシテ命令ヲ以テ定ムルモノヲ謂フ , http://www.res.otemon.ac.jp/~yamamoto/be/BE_law_04.htm
- ^ SOSHIREN / 資料・法律−優生保護法
- ^ Michio Miyasaka, A Historical and Ethical Analysis of Leprosy Control Policy in Japan, [5]
- ^ Michio Miyasaka, [6]
- ^ Jennifer Robertson, Blood Talks, [7]
- ^ Herbert Bix, Hirohito and the making of modern Japan, 2001, p. 538, citing Kinkabara Samon and Takemae Eiji, Showashi : kokumin non naka no haran to gekido no hanseiki-zohoban, 1989, p. 244.
- ^ Russell McGregor, Imagined Destinies. Aboriginal Australians and the Doomed Race Theory, 1880-1939, Melbourne: MUP, 1997
- ^ Aborigines Act of 1905
- ^ Stolen Generation by Tim Richardson
- ^ Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission - Bringing them Home - The Report
- ^ Jacobs, Pat (1990). Mister Neville, A Biography. Fremantle Arts Centre Press. ISBN 0-949206-72-5.
- ^ Kinnane, Stephen (2003). Shadow Lines. Fremantle Arts Centre Press. ISBN 1-86368-237-6.
- ^ Rastänkandet i Sverige
- ^ Steriliseringsfrågan i Sverige 1935 - 1975, SOU 2000:20, in Swedish with an English summary.
- ^ a b c IngentaConnect Eugenics and the Sterilization Debate in Sweden and Britain Befor
- ^ King and Hansen, 1999. B. J. Pol. S. 29, 77–107 [8]
- ^ "Sterilisation of the unfit - Nazi legislation," The Guardian (26 July 1933). Available online at [9].
- ^ There are a number of works discussing eugenics in various countries around the world. For the history of eugenics in Scandinavia, see Gunnar Broberg and Nils Roll-Hansen, eds. , Eugenics And the Welfare State: Sterilization Policy in Demark, Sweden, Norway, and Findland (Michigan State University Press, 2005). Another international approach is Mark B. Adams, ed. , The Wellborn Science: Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil, and Russia (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990).
- ^ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved on 2006-08-26. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert.
- ^ Declaration on Race and Racial Prejudice. Retrieved on 2006-08-26. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert.
- ^ A discussion of the general changes in views towards genetics and race after World War II is: Elazar Barkan, The retreat of scientific racism: changing concepts of race in Britain and the United States between the world wars (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
- ^ American Bioethics Advisory Commission, "Eugenics," ABAC website
- ^ UNESCO: Its Purpose and its Philosophy (Washington D. C. 1947), cited in Liagin, Excessive Force: Power Politics and Population Control, at 85 (Washington, D. C. : Information Project for Africa 1996)
- ^ See Broberg and Nil-Hansen, ed. , Eugenics And the Welfare State and Alexandra Stern, Eugenic nation: faults and frontiers of better breeding in modern America (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005)
- ^ Essay 7: Marriage Laws
- ^ Essay 9: Immigration Restriction
- ^ John Glad: "Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century", Hermitage Publishers
- ^ See, i. e. , Richard Lynn, Eugenics: A Reassessment (Human Evolution, Behavior, and Intelligence) (Praeger Publishers, 2001). Richard Lynn (born 1930 is a British Professor Emeritus of Psychology who is known for his controversial views on racial and
- ^ Cattell, R. B. (1987). Beyondism: Religion from science. New York: Praeger, p. 187
- ^ Marriage Laws in the US - Blood Tests
- ^ The Eugenic Temptation (March-April 2000)
- ^ For example, Nicholas Agar, Liberal Eugenics: In Defence of Human Enhancement (Blackwell, 2004). Nicholas Agar is a professor of Ethics and a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW
- ^ James D. Watson, A passion for DNA: Genes, genomes, and society (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2000): 202.
- ^ Quoted in Brendan Bourne, "Scientist warns disabled over having children" The Sunday Times (Britain) (13 October 2004). Events 54 - Nero ascends to the Roman throne 409 - Vandals and Alans crossed the Pyrenees "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Available online at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1337781,00.html.
- ^ Quoted in Mark Henderson, "Let's cure stupidity, says DNA pioneer", The Times (28 February 2003). Events 202 BC - coronation ceremony of Liu Bang as Emperor Gaozu of Han takes place initiating four centuries of the Han Dynasty 's rule Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. Available online at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-593687,00.html.
- ^ Philip Kitcher, The Lives to Come (Penguin, 1997). Philip Stuart Kitcher (born 1947 is a British Philosophy professor who specializes in the Philosophy of science. Review available online at http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/en/genome/geneticsandsociety/hg16f009.html.
- ^ United Press International: Q&A: Steven Pinker of 'Blank Slate. Retrieved on 2006-08-26. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. Events 1071 - Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Army at Manzikert.
- ^ Edward M. Miller: "Eugenics: Economics for the Long Run", 1997
- ^ Title: Fatal Gift: Jewish Intelligence and Western Civilization
Sources
- Larson, Edward J. (2004), Evolution, Modern Library, ISBN 0-679-64288-9
- Histories of eugenics (academic accounts)
- Elof Axel Carlson, The Unfit: A History of a Bad Idea (Cold Spring Harbor, New York: Cold Spring Harbor Press, 2001). Edward John Larson is an American Historian and legal scholar ISBN 0-87969-587-0
- Daniel Kevles, In the name of eugenics: Genetics and the uses of human heredity (New York: Knopf, 1985). Daniel J Kevles is an American historian of science. He is currently the Stanley Woodward Professor of History at Yale University, a position he assumed in 2001
- Dieter Kuntz, ed. , Deadly medicine: creating the master race (Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 2004). online exhibit
- Ruth C. Engs, The Eugenics Movement: An Encyclopedia. Ruth Clifford Engs is Professor Emeritus Applied Health Science Indiana University, Bloomington IN (Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005). ISBN 0-313-32791-2.
- John Glad, Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century. John Glad is an American academic who specializes in translations of Russian Literature. (Hermitage Publishers, 2008). ISBN 1-55779-154-6. [11]
- Histories of hereditarian thought
- Elazar Barkan, The retreat of scientific racism: changing concepts of race in Britain and the United States between the world wars (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
- Stephen Jay Gould, The mismeasure of man (New York: Norton, 1981). Stephen Jay Gould (September 10 1941 &ndash May 20 2002 was a prominent American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science
- Ewen & Ewen, Typecasting: On the Arts and Sciences of Human Inequality (New York, Seven Stories Press, 2006).
- Criticisms of eugenics, historical and modern
- Edwin Black, War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race (Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003). Edwin Black is an award-winning New York Times bestselling American Author and Journalist specializing in corporate and historical investigations [12] ISBN 1-56858-258-7
- Dinesh D'Souza, The End of Racism (Free Press, 1995) ISBN 0-02-908102-5
- Galton, David, Eugenics: The Future of Human Life in the 21st Century (Abacus, 2002) ISBN 0-349-11377-7
- Robert L. Dinesh D'Souza (born April 25, 1961 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) is an author and public speaker who once served as the Robert and Hayman, Presumptions of justice: Law, politics, and the mentally retarded parent. Harvard Law Review 1990, 103, 1202-71. (p. 1209)
- Joseph, J. (2004). The Gene Illusion: Genetic Research in Psychiatry and Psychology Under the Microscope.New York: Algora. (2003 United Kingdom Edition by PCCS Books)
- Joseph, J. (2005). The 1942 “Euthanasia” Debate in the American Journal of Psychiatry. History of Psychiatry, 16, 171-179.
- Joseph, J. (2006). The Missing Gene: Psychiatry, Heredity, and the Fruitless Search for Genes.New York: Algora.
- H. L. Kaye, The social meaning of modern biology 1987, New Haven, CT Yale University Press. (p. 46)
- Tom Shakespeare, "Back to the Future? New Genetics and Disabled People", Critical Social Policy 46:22-35 (1995)
- Wahlsten, D. Sir Thomas William Shakespeare 3rd Baronet (born 11 May 1966) better known as Tom Shakespeare, is a geneticist and sociologist. (1997). Leilani Muir versus the Philosopher King: eugenics on trial in Alberta. Genetica 99: 185-198.
- Tom Shakespeare, Genetic Politics: from Eugenics to Genome, with Anne Kerr (New Clarion Press, 2002). Sir Thomas William Shakespeare 3rd Baronet (born 11 May 1966) better known as Tom Shakespeare, is a geneticist and sociologist.
- Nancy Ordover, American Eugenics: Race, Queer Anatomy, and the Science of Nationalism (Minneapolis: University of Minneapolis Press, 2003). ISBN 0-8166-3559-5
- Gina Maranto, "Quest for Perfection: The Drive to Breed Better Human Beings" Diane Publishing Co. (June 1996) ISBN 0-7881-9431-3
Films and Documentaries
- Homo Sapiens 1900, Director: Peter Cohen, 2000
- Idiocracy, Director: Mike Judge, 2006
External links
General-eugenics websites
Pro-eugenics websites
- Eugenics - a planned evolution for life
- Future Generations Eugenics Portal
- Mankind Quarterly
- Future Human Evolution: Eugenics in the Twenty-First Century by John Glad
Anti-eugenics and historical websites
- Eugenics Archive - Historical Material on the Eugenics Movement (funded by the Human Genome Project)
- Shoaheducation.com:Eugenics
- University of Virginia Historical Collections: Eugenics
- "Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race" (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum exhibit)
- Vermont Eugenics: A documentary history
- DNA: Pandora's Box - PBS documentary about DNA, the Human Genome Project, and questions about a "new" eugenics
- Fighting Fire with Fire: African Americans and Hereditarian Thinking, 1900-1942 - article on the support of eugenics by African American thinkers
- "Eugenics -- Breeding a Better Citizenry Through Science", a historical critique from physical anthropologist Jonathan Marks
- "The Quest for a Perfect Society", from Awake! magazine (September 22, 2000)
- "Eugenics and other Evils",G K Chesterton's "Eugenics and other Evils. Homo Sapiens 1900 is a documentary directed by Peter Cohen, about various Eugenics methods that were in practise in Europe during the first part of the 20th century Peter Cohen (born 23 March 1946) is a Swedish film director writer editor and producer Idiocracy is a 2006 American dark comedy directed by Mike Judge, and starring Luke Wilson and Maya Rudolph. Michael Craig Judge (born October 17 1962) is an American Animator, Actor, Voice actor, Writer, director The Human Genome Project (HGP was an international Scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA The Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) is a Non-profit Public broadcasting Television service with 354 member TV stations in the The Human Genome Project (HGP was an international Scientific research project with a primary goal to determine the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA Jonathan Marks (born 1955 is a biological Anthropologist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Awake! ( is a Magazine published by Jehovah's Witnesses, considered to be a companion magazine of The Watchtower. Events 66 - Emperor Nero creates the Legion I Italica. 1236 - The Lithuanians 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. " (1922)
- "Eugenics" - National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature Scope Note 28, features overview of eugenics history and annotated bibliography of historical literature
Other
- "Do not have children if they won't be healthy!" Tamara Traubmann, Haaretz June 16, 2004. (הארץ "The land" referring to the Land of Israel) founded in 1918 is Israel 's oldest Daily newspaper. Events 1487 - Battle of Stoke Field, the last dying breath of the Wars of the Roses. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again "
- "As Gene Test Menu Grows, Who Gets to Choose?" Amy Harmon, New York Times (21 July 2004). Events 356 BC - Herostratus sets fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again "
- "The Crimson Rivers" -- a fiction movie in 2000.
- Yale Study: U.S. Eugenics Paralleled Nazi Germany by David Morgan Published on Tuesday, February 15, 2000 in the Chicago Tribune
- Eugenics: past, present, and the future
- 1907 Indiana Eugenics Law
Dictionary
eugenics
-noun
- (biology) The science of improving stock, whether human or animal.
- (philosophy) A social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary qualities through selective breeding.
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