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Argument for eugenics
Essay on the eugenics movement and social
Argument for eugenics
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In an ever advancing world and desire for perfection, the word eugenics is growing more prominent in today’s language. Its “infamy” is only increased by todays technological advances allowing everyone access to the information necessary to learn about what it is. The word eugenics, meaning good birth in Greek, was created in 1883 by Francis Galton, cousin to Charles Darwin who was responsible for the theory of evolution in particular, survival of the fittest. Eugenics is the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics. This philosophy of improving the human race through eugenic practices is believed by many around the world and has been considered a serious problem …show more content…
Although These aren’t either positive or negative processes of eugenics, they all involve the procedure of altering the natural order of variation and procreation through human interference, thereby altering the outcome to enhance ones future fitness and stability. This form of eugenics ultimately stays true to the meaning of eugenics, meaning “Good Birth” in Greek, and is most likely to be labeled as less of a violation as it attempts to prevent the very conception of “unfit” offspring. Another related example is abortion; many women choose to abort after receiving results of an abnormal amniocentesis, also known as an amniotic fluid test, which is used to diagnose chromosomal abnormalities and fetal infections, although this topic is widely argued by millions as either moral or immoral and is a large …show more content…
We, as humans naturally strive to improve ourselves and our offspring, possibly as an attempt to ensure the survival of our unique genetic code. It is not unusual to naturally practice eugenics, as it is part of life because after all we do choose a partner which is smart and successful to procreate with. At the start, Galton only intended to use this word to label the procreation of successful couples and create a science out of it. Although the obsessive behaviors of humans caused this to become an unhealthy science without any control and boundaries causing violation of humans rights to be a norm. The altruistic aspects of this movement diminished as efforts to artificially improve the human genetic pool resulted in the obstruction of rights for those determined unfit. Eugenics turned into a tool to legally exercise racism, hatred and bigotry against those in lower economical
The American Eugenics Movement was led by Charles Davenport and was a social agenda to breed out undesirable traits with an aim of racial purification. Eugenics was a used to breed out the worst and weakest to improve the genetic composition of the human race, and advocated for selective breeding to achieve this. The science of eugenics rested on simple mendelian genetics, which was a mistake because they were assuming complex behaviors could be reduced to simple mendelian genes. After Nazi Germany adopted the ideas behind the American eugenics movement to promote the Aryan race, the eugenics movement was completely discredited.
Galton, David J., and Clare J. Galton. "Francis Galton: And Eugenics Today." Journal of Medical Ethics, 24.2 (1998): 99-101. JSTOR. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
Eugenics was a proposed way to improve the human species by encouraging or permitting reproduction of people with desirable genetic characteristics. Higham says, "The dazzling development of modern genetics around 1900 revealed principles of heredity that seemed entirely independent of environmental influences." (Doc 4) In Grant's "Passing of the Great Race", he claims bad gene mixture based upon differences in skin, eye color, and lack of working abilities.
Eugenics- Eugenics is a term coined by Francis Galton in 1883 and it is the belief and practice of improving the genetic quality of the human population. This idea that one could trace hereditary problems and find solutions for them gained significant ground in addressing certain societal issues such as poor people and welfare. Two types of eugenics emerged, positive and negative, but the U.S., negative eugenics was preferred. This is the idea of destroying defectives and degenerates from the population to promote and preserve the fittest, a very social Darwinist idea. This is important to sexuality because many homosexuals were sterilized, thus creating the stigma that homosexuality was a disease that could be cured.
The modern day eugenics movement all started with Francis Galton who, in 1869, proposed that procreation between the upper class men and the wealthy women could lead to a superior race. This led to the American Eugenics Society being founded in 1926, a society that wanted restricted access for immigrants of inferior genetic makeup into America as well as the right to sterilize the insane, retarded and epileptic within the country. This was with a view of furthering humanity and improving the gene pool by preventing the poorly endowed (genetically speaking) from continuing their blight on the world.
Rifkin, Jeremy. "The Ultimate Therapy: Commercial Eugenics on the Eve of the Biotech Century." Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum. 7th ed. Ed.
In his chapter “Chromosome 21: Eugenics,” Matt Ridley argues that the main reason eugenics is wrong is because it requires the removal of basic human rights. He begins with a brief history of eugenics, how it began in Britain, and how it spread to the rest of the world. Ridley points out numerous times in this chapter that many countries used eugenics for personal or political gain. When Karl Pearson, one of the earliest eugenics supporters, brought eugenics to Britain, it was under the belief that it would keep Britain ahead of other countries and produce a better population. In Germany, the population accepted eugenic beliefs because they believed that it would better the economy, population, and wealth structure. The United States even used eugenics for political reasons, like anti immigration. While most of these countries ended up with sterilization and marriage laws, Britain was one of the few that never adopted either.
Eugenics is the future of modifying the Human body naturally with no injections or experimental drugs necessary. This could lead to the best version of the human race that has walked this planet. This could make the world all of us live in a disease free world full of healthy people. According to Biograpghy.com Eugenics got
As medical science has advanced at an increasingly rapid rate over the last two centuries, the morality of new practices and when to utilize them has often come into question. With their past pursuits of cutting-edge treatments, many doctors and professionals have disregarded the humanistic health care ideals set forth in the Hippocratic Oath, which famously requires all future doctors to swear to “never do harm.” In late 19th century Britain, this pursuit led to the formation of the eugenics movement, which applied Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory of evolution, also known as the “survival of the fittest”, to humans. Supporters of the movement firmly believed that the quality of the human population could be physically enhanced through measures such as sterilization and genetic screening. In the United States, eugenics played a major role in the Progressive Movement as many saw it as a potential response to increasing overpopulation, which was seen as one of the main causes of societal ills such as poverty and disease. After World War I had ended in 1918, support for the eugenics movement began to gather momentum in Europe, especially in Germany, where the war and subsequent reparation payments had taken a serious toll. There, the ideologies of eugenics met the pressing economic and population growth concerns of a reeling German society. In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, a then-little known political prisoner named Adolf Hitler wrote: "The demand that defective people be prevented from propagating equally defective offspring is a demand of clearest reason and, if systematically executed, represents the mos...
In today’s society, Eugenics movement is looked upon as unethical sterilize large groups of people from procreating without their consent. However, at one point in history, it was used as positive reinforcement and incentive throughout America to make the white race more prominent and to make the African American decrease in population size. By sterilizing the unwanted people, this theory was used to reassure white people that children of color would not eventually infiltrate their
Eugenics is the science that tries to improve the human race by controlling which people become parents. During the 1920s and 1930s there was a big eugenics movement. This movement was that a better human race, breed, would come about if the healthy, physically and mentally, had more children then the unwell population. This is similar to Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest. Sanger’s role in Eugenics was to try to give all of the sick, diseased, and those in poverty birth control. Giving them a contraceptive would greatly decrease the growth of their kind. Sanger once used plants to compare human race cleansing in her, “Children’s Era,” speech given in 1926:
The concept of eugenics was not initially intended to prevent overcrowding, however, it would later be used as a form of population control. Eugenics is the idea of improving society by breeding fitter people. Francis Galton was the first person to originate this term and was a major proponent of the concept during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The practice of eugenics was originally performed through the use of selective breeding. Eugenics was a progressive idea, driven by social perceptions. In fact, "many of its most strident advocates were socialist, who saw eugenics as enlightened state planning of reproduction."2 Fearing the degradation of society, the elite desired to prevent further social decay of the world by eliminating individuals who were considered unfit physically, mentally, or socially.
The Web. 27 May 2014. The "Eugenics" - "The. Dictionary.com. The World of the. Dictionary.com, n.d. -. Web.
Eugenics has been a popular plot point in film as it reflects society’s fundamental view of the role that heredity plays in societal problems. While it is mostly directed at humans, and it is rarely challenged that hereditary factors play a role in societal problems, these films criticize those who change heredity. This is because it is seen as the element that makes us ‘humans’ and that identity is deeply rooted in the genome, both the good and the bad. Eugenics is seen as the compromise between drastic measures such as sterilization as the ‘problem’ would have been addressed prior to it ever becoming one.10
The belief of eugenics was well-known in the 20th century and the set of its ideals were adopted by many societies across the nation. Eugenics is a study of improving human species by keeping all of the desirable races or breeds. It developed a controversial science regarding to human heredity and personal traits such as positive and negative eugenics. For example, it stated that in order to improve the genetic quality of human race, the society should encourage individuals with superior genes to produce more offspring and discourage reproduction who are considered as socially unfit. These biased eugenics ideas were inspired by Darwin’s theory of natural selection and as well as Galton’s theory of hard heredity. Even in today’s society, people