Preview

Eugenics: the Artificial Selection

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
686 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Eugenics: the Artificial Selection
S R
August 26, 2008
Biology 340
Eugenics: The Artificial Selection In the 1800’s, well-known biologist, Charles Darwin enlightened us with his theory of evolution and natural selection. In short, natural selection states that random genetic changes transpire within an organism 's genetic code, such changes are preserved because they are valuable for survival. Darwin’s ideas came from economics applied to biology. By the late 1800’s Francis Galton, Darwin’s cousin, had thoroughly studied his cousins findings and disclosed his beliefs in biology, which he related to human beings. His philosophy was known as Eugenics. Eugenics was an idea was based on ways to control reproduction so that human race can better succeed, in other words, a revised sequel of Darwin’s natural selection, artificial selection. Galton understood that good advancement of mankind was let down by generous outreach to the underprivileged when such hard work motivated people to have more children. Galton sought after expanding his eugenics idealism from science to a policy and religion. This science was a form of perfecting the human race through improved reproduction. That alone should have scared people, however, it began to evolve, as Galton desired. Eugenicist aspired the development of advantageous characteristics and abolition of the adverse ones. Eugenics was seen as a means to resolve the combined problems because it located the cause in the flawed germ cells within the embryo of individuals of certain ethnic groups instead of focusing on the structure of society. Eugenicist alleged that inherited disorders with basic modes of inheritance could be construed from derivations of inheritance contained by families, such as polydactyl. Psychiatric disorders, such as manic depression, were also considered when researching inherited disorders. Geneticist understood that behavioral personality had the utmost impact on society. They assumed that people inherited a trait that



Cited: EugenicsArchive.org Image Archive on the American Eugenics Movement http://www.eugenicsarchive.org/eugenics/list3.pl Adams, Mark, ed. The Wellborn Science: Eugenics in Germany, France, Brazil and Russia (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990 Neo Eugenics: http://neoeugenics.home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/ Future Generations: http://www.eugenics.net/links/othrlink.html

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    What may start off having even the best of intentions could end up having some serious negative consequences. Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt seemed to have started his belief in eugenics within a sense of nationalism where it was a woman’s duty to the state to birth and raise a family. He emphasized this view through his conservation programs where white, farming women were the epitome of the ideal type of person that should be procreating. Unlike the weak, feebleminded, retarded, deaf, blind, etc. who should not pass along their unwanted genetics. There are a few other authors in our text book, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, that also followed this program of eugenics masked by a conservationist agenda.…

    • 2674 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eugenics is known for its European presence. It, however, shaped the health care and legal practices of every region of the world, including Latin America. As Nancy Leys Stepan said of its reach in The Hour of Eugenics:…

    • 2107 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    * Backers of Eugenics (science of genetic lines and the inheritable traits they pass on from generation to generation) claimed that traits could be traced through blood lines and bred into populations (for positive traits) or taken out of blood lines (for negative traits)…

    • 4161 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Necropolitics, Mbembe is quoted stating “the ultimate expression of sovereignty resides, to a large degree, in the power and the capacity to dictate who may live and who must die.” Through translation this means that the highest expression of power is having the position to control and manipulate who can and cannot live. In a way this quote connects to eugenics also. According to Wikipedia, eugenics is an applied science which promotes practices that can improve the genetic makeup of an entire population. Mbembe’s quote dealt with being able to control who lives and who dies while eugenics is all about how they can eliminate a population before it’s even created by biologically enhancing the current population to create a new generation of “more desired people.” The practice of Eugenics is not only morally wrong but can also be seen as racist, because the practice of eugenics can be used to where a certain race can no longer exist or a certain race will have to reproduce with a “higher” race in order to knock out future generations of that specific race.…

    • 728 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    the ‘menace of the feebleminded’ or the unfit on the one hand (eugenicists), and the…

    • 3092 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the 1920’s, science and social legislation came to be intertwined, and the study of human genetic variation was born; this was known as the term eugenics. Eugenics is the improvement of a species by emphasizing the characteristics that are beneficial. Positive eugenics it is the act of improving a species by emphasizing the propagation of those traits that are seen as beneficial. Negative Eugenics is the act of improving the species by preventing the spread of those traits that are seen as dysgenic or harmful.…

    • 1365 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Eugenics Movement was a movement that wanted to improve the human race. They had an idea that there were superior human hereditary traits as well as inferior human hereditary traits. Superior human traits involved having blue eyes, blonde hair, and light skin, all of these traits lead to assumptions that these people were intelligent as well as great athletic ability. Inferior human traits included dark skin and dark colored eyes which lead to the assumption that these people with these traits were unintelligent. The Eugenics Movement used multiple strategies to promote improvements of human hereditary traits, such as anti-miscegenation laws, birth control experimentation, and coercive sterilization. The relationship between the Eugenics…

    • 1450 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Eugenics movement started in the late 19th century and eventually became an ideal adopted in countries such as Germany and the United States. The motivation behind this motion was based upon the preservation of sanity within society. Hence, the Eugenics movement was centralized around sterilizing people who exhibited “mental illness, mental retardation or epilepsy.” Many scientists and scholars tried to justify the morality of this conceptualization by stating that “through selective breeding, society would improve.” This idea of Eugenics or “selective breeding” has raised many questions such as the following: Is it ethical for the state to determine who can and cannot breed? Furthermore, why do the “feeble-minded”…

    • 1180 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Why Are Eugenics Wrong

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page

    The eugenics was wrong because the people lost their culture, it built a superior genetic race and it caused global problems…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eugenics In California

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Eugenics is the desire to improve the human gene pool by discouraging, or in some cases forcefully controlling, the reproduction of the unfit (Wellerstein pg. 29). The people branded to be "unfit", were seen as recipients of undesirable heritable characteristics. The act of forcefully restricting people of reproduction is a form of negative eugenics.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eugenics can have an upside to human life. Eugenics can be used to assess a child’s medical needs. Parents already know the particular DNA makeup of their unborn child, which allows them to be prepared to meet the medical needs of that…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As research continues to uncover new disease-causing mutations, the prospect of stopping the transmission of heritable diseases increases. With the use of modern technology, expecting parents can now be prescreened in order to determine their carrier status for certain diseases. Parents who choose to use in vitro fertilization are able to choose embryos that are free of disease due to preimplantation genetic diagnosis. Additionally, parents can be provided with information on their unborn child with the use of prenatal genetic testing. Some individuals view modern genetic technology as eugenic; however, this biggest difference between eugenics now and eugenics during the 1900s is consent. Today individuals pursue genetic testing by choice and policies on ethics and consent prevent reoccurrences of the immoral endeavors within the field of…

    • 585 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Future Eugenics

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages

    “You may think Humans is a noun, but in reality we’re actually a verb- we’re an action; an occurrence; a state of motion!”- BJ Murphy…

    • 474 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite the common belief that eugenics were practiced solely by Hitler and his followers during the Holocaust, the original exploration of eugenics began in the United States. Many organizations in American funded eugenic research, then the ideas were exchanged into Hitler’s possession. After Hitler set about achieving his goal of a “Master Race”, prisoners in concentration camps encountered the harsh techniques used to fulfill Hitler’s desires. In camps, such as Auschwitz, harsh Nazi soldiers would violently control prisoners. The Nazi regime wanted to eliminate the Jews primarily, along with anyone else that did not fit the Nordic race.…

    • 497 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    What you just read is not fiction, though! This is truly what used to happen in America. For a time, liberty and equality were overshadowed by the twisted need for a more perfect society. Now a section of America’s horrible history has been brought to light. This paper has revealed the key concepts behind Eugenics, and how population control was being used to try and make a better society. We have seen how Eugenicists have studied these “incapable people”. Might I add that, in contrast to today, it is crystal clear as to how wrong they were, and how wretched their actions were! Finally, this paper went in-depth into sterilization laws, marriage laws, and immigration restrictions- three of the largest ramifications of the Eugenics Movement on society. It is impossible to change what has happened in the past. This is a shadow that will follow the United States for eternity. The good news is that this horrible time period has passed, and America possess prized attributes we currently value! We are extremely fortunate that today we don’t have Eugenics in…

    • 1800 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays