History of Eugenics
History of Eugenics: How those in Power shape Society’s Perfect Human.
Eugenics, the study of hereditary traits with the aim of producing an ideal human, and “on a societal level, programs that control human reproduction with the intent of changing the genetic structureof the population”, (Lewis, 299) are not a new concept. The history of eugenics reaches as far back as 400 B.C., and extends to dates as recent as 1994. From Athens to Sparta, United States to Germany and China, the quest to improve the human race has spanned the world. ‘Improve’, however, is a highly subjective term.
Who decides what an ideal human looks like? And what are the appropriate ways to build a race of such people? The answers to these questions have changed throughout the centuries. People considered ‘ideal’ by the eugenics program in one culture would be scheduled to be euthanized as ‘undesirable’ in another culture a few centuries later. Upon reviewing the history of eugenics, it becomes apparent that the section of a society in power at a particular time in history, usually seeks to eliminate those least like themselves, in order to impose not only their values, but their very phenotype on society at large.
The first written accounts of eugenics reach back to 386 B.C. In his work “The Republic”, a description and plan for an Utopia, or ‘ideal society’, the Athenian philosopher Plato is said to have written that procreation should be controlled by the state. Through a state-sponsored selection of mates, “race would be strengthened by improved children”. (“Life of Plato”). Men aged 30-45 would be allowed to reproduce, as well as women aged 20-40. Any child born in violation of these laws would be abandoned outside the walls of the city. Some of Plato’s ideas had already been put into action in Sparta, around 431 BC. In line with the concept of ‘Eunomia’, weak male infants were left to die on slopes of Mt. Taygetus. (“The true story…”) “The Spartans practiced an
Eugenics, the study of hereditary traits with the aim of producing an ideal human, and “on a societal level, programs that control human reproduction with the intent of changing the genetic structureof the population”, (Lewis, 299) are not a new concept. The history of eugenics reaches as far back as 400 B.C., and extends to dates as recent as 1994. From Athens to Sparta, United States to Germany and China, the quest to improve the human race has spanned the world. ‘Improve’, however, is a highly subjective term.
Who decides what an ideal human looks like? And what are the appropriate ways to build a race of such people? The answers to these questions have changed throughout the centuries. People considered ‘ideal’ by the eugenics program in one culture would be scheduled to be euthanized as ‘undesirable’ in another culture a few centuries later. Upon reviewing the history of eugenics, it becomes apparent that the section of a society in power at a particular time in history, usually seeks to eliminate those least like themselves, in order to impose not only their values, but their very phenotype on society at large.
The first written accounts of eugenics reach back to 386 B.C. In his work “The Republic”, a description and plan for an Utopia, or ‘ideal society’, the Athenian philosopher Plato is said to have written that procreation should be controlled by the state. Through a state-sponsored selection of mates, “race would be strengthened by improved children”. (“Life of Plato”). Men aged 30-45 would be allowed to reproduce, as well as women aged 20-40. Any child born in violation of these laws would be abandoned outside the walls of the city. Some of Plato’s ideas had already been put into action in Sparta, around 431 BC. In line with the concept of ‘Eunomia’, weak male infants were left to die on slopes of Mt. Taygetus. (“The true story…”) “The Spartans practiced an
Bibliography: Smith, John David. “Minds Made Feeble”. Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins, 1985. Pg. 136-137 “Interracial Marriage”, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage_in_the_United_States