Eugenics: Breeding and Improving Human Genetics
I support the guidelines outlined by Kitcher for the use of genetic information because of their responsible and ethical nature. I believe that future generations will benefit as a direct consequence of these guidelines. I shall begin by defining eugenics as the study of human genetics to improve inherited characteristics of the human race by the means of controlled selective breeding.
Chapter 8 of Kitcher's novel, Inescapable Eugenics, identifies past abuses of eugenics resulting from inaccurate, misleading information; abuses that include dominant groups using eugenics to discriminate against other undesirable groups.
In 1933, the Nazi's exercised eugenics as a direct way to rid individuals who were portrayed as "unfit" or inferior . During this time period, eugenics was integrated with German culture making citizens believe that individuals who fell into the category of being mentally dysfunctional, homosexual, or Jewish were contamination threats to the superior race. The culture believed this to be correct.
In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell ordered the sterilization of Carrie Buck, destroying her fundamental reproductive freedom on the grounds that she was part of a family that yielded 3 generations of imbeciles . Fifty-three years later, a follow up revealed that Carrie lived a normal quality of life.
According to Kitcher, Nazi practices of discriminatory eugenics can be avoided with his model of laissez-faire eugenics. His model is centered on the idea that citizens have individual reproductive freedom to evaluate scientific information in their own view, choosing what is morally and ethically right to them . Kitcher also mentions that due to the reliability and success of genetic knowledge today, misdiagnoses such as in the Buck v Bell case (almost a century ago) are highly unlikely to resurface again.
Kitcher also identifies problems in laissez-faire eugenics, such as discrimination against the poor lower class on the
Chapter 8 of Kitcher's novel, Inescapable Eugenics, identifies past abuses of eugenics resulting from inaccurate, misleading information; abuses that include dominant groups using eugenics to discriminate against other undesirable groups.
In 1933, the Nazi's exercised eugenics as a direct way to rid individuals who were portrayed as "unfit" or inferior . During this time period, eugenics was integrated with German culture making citizens believe that individuals who fell into the category of being mentally dysfunctional, homosexual, or Jewish were contamination threats to the superior race. The culture believed this to be correct.
In 1927, the U.S. Supreme Court case Buck v. Bell ordered the sterilization of Carrie Buck, destroying her fundamental reproductive freedom on the grounds that she was part of a family that yielded 3 generations of imbeciles . Fifty-three years later, a follow up revealed that Carrie lived a normal quality of life.
According to Kitcher, Nazi practices of discriminatory eugenics can be avoided with his model of laissez-faire eugenics. His model is centered on the idea that citizens have individual reproductive freedom to evaluate scientific information in their own view, choosing what is morally and ethically right to them . Kitcher also mentions that due to the reliability and success of genetic knowledge today, misdiagnoses such as in the Buck v Bell case (almost a century ago) are highly unlikely to resurface again.
Kitcher also identifies problems in laissez-faire eugenics, such as discrimination against the poor lower class on the