Who Is Kitcher Inescapable Eugenics

Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary

Eugenics is the pseudoscience of obtaining desired traits in a population through controlled repopulation, specifically by preventing those deemed “unfit” by “Nordic stereotypes” from breeding. Most modern day Americans do not realize the origins of eugenics, which was planted by Charles Darwin and Sir Francis Galton and bloomed in America, and what effect it had on the attempt to create a master race in Nazi Germany. America played a very influential role in German eugenics by collaboration between scientists and funding from American corporations. The negative connotation associated with this science is usually directed towards the scientists of the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler, and not towards American scientists who also partook in horrific experiments and performed inhumane acts as well. This is absurd when you consider that the United States was the backbone of the eugenics movement internationally and only developed a negative perspective of the research when it became affiliated with the holocaust and the troubling actions of Nazi Germany.

Therefore, enlightened eugenics calls for the education on the basis of minimalist eugenics while responsible eugenics would use reliable genetic tests in order to avoid neurological diseases and prevent the previously mentioned dangers caused by laissez-faire eugenics. Kitcher’s view of utopian eugenics envisions a society in which genetics allow people to make free and educated reproductive choices and in which the education broadens an understanding of the likely quality of a modest life.

Gina Kolata’s article, Ethics Questions Arise as Genetic Testing of Embryos Increases (2014), explains that as the increase of the testing of embryos for parents to choose whether or not to have children has also brought its ethical questions in the light. Kolata uses the Kalinskys case, a family in the article, and how their neurological disease, Gerstmann-Straussler-Schinker (GSS), has raised questions for ethicists who have looked into the case. Kolata’s purpose in writing this article is to inform the audience on the growing topic of embryo testing and also the ethical question that also accompany in order to have the audience to develop a personal view on the issue. Given how the author explains the technical terms used within the article, Kolata is writing to an audience that is not fully aware of genetic testing.

The eugenics movement began in the 20th century by a man named Francis Galton. As the cousin of Charles Darwin, Galton believed that eugenics was a moral philosophy to improve humanity by encouraging the ablest and healthiest people to have more children (Carlson). This Galtonian ideal of eugenics is often thought of as positive eugenics. Eugenics can be defined as the outgrowth of human heredity aimed at "improving" the quality of the human stock (Allen and Bird). At the other end of the spectrum is what can be classified as negative eugenics and is presently in disrepute. Negative eugenics entails selective breeding in which the least able from the population is taken out of the reproduction pool to preserve humanity's best traits.

There are many things that have happened behind closed doors in our great nation. In fact, even today with all the technology and possibilities to learn, the people of this nation still fall ignorant. We don’t know the evils that occur in our nation, not to mention the ideas and blueprints that caused them to come to action. There are many great sins that have been committed, and currently in the process of committing, of these I believe Eugenics to be one of the most abominable. How did eugenics start, where does it come from and who authored and supported it? I hope to delve into this during this essay.

The world is well aware that the acts of the Nazis were atrocious. This is not something one has to affirm, and is due, in large part, to an understanding of World War II and Hitler’s attempts to achieve “Aryan” purity. Germans have taken responsibility and shown remorse for their government’s actions. The United States’ role as leaders in the eugenics movement of the early 1900’s remains unknown by most Americans, even to many American scholars. The American eugenics movement, is at least partially responsibility for Hitler’s actions, at it laid

The author name was Edwin Black, the publisher was History News Network and the URL link is http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796. The publication was made on September 2003.

The idea of eugenics was first introduced by Sir Francis Galton, who believed that the breeding of two wealthy and successful members of society would produce a child superior to that of two members of the lower class. This assumption was based on the idea that genes for success or particular excellence were present in our DNA, which is passed from parent to child. Despite the blatant lack of research, two men, Georges Vacher de Lapouge and Jon Alfred Mjoen, played to the white supremacists' desires and claimed that white genes were inherently superior to other races, and with this base formed the first eugenics society. The American Eugenics Movement attempted to unethically obliterate the rising tide of lower classes by immorally

California had the nation’s highest sterilization rate, accounting for about half of the nation’s total number of sterilizations (3). It became to epicenter of all things Eugenics. The Rockefeller Foundation, a sponsor of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, also funded the German Eugenics program where Josef Mengele worked before he worked in Auschwitz. Hitler actually used the “science” of Eugenics to convince Germans that the genocide of the Jewish people was morally justified. Hitler used Eugenics legislation in the United States as a model for his idea of a perfect race which was exactly what the United States viewed as a perfect race; white, blonde, blue eyes, and mentally capable. Some Eugenicists in California even republished Nazi propaganda and showed museum exhibits on Nazism because they agreed with Hitler’s plans to create the master race (3). Joseph DeJarnette, superintendent of Virginia's Western State Hospital, was quoted saying "The Germans are beating us at our own game," implying that the end game for the Eugenics movement in the United States was the systematic killing of all people that did not look and think exactly like the leaders of the Eugenics

Eugenics is very controversial. It is important to be informed on the subject to avoid making rash and hasty decisions on whether or not it is right or wrong. It is up to each individual to gain the knowledge necessary to determine the moral correctness or incorrectness of any topic. Often decisions are made without information to back them up. You must understand the term before understanding the action. In this way, we must understand eugenics in a general sense and in detail. We must start with defining the term eugenics.

The birth of a child is supposed to be a time of joy, the uncertainty of life leads to this one point in time. Will she or he be the next president, a star athlete, a genius or just fall into the crowd as another citizen. With recent advancements in science, this uncertainty has become a thing of the past. The human being is now seen as a commodity and no more is valued in the uncertainty of individuality. The parent can now choose how they want their child to come out or develop into. Sandel’s book The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Case of Modern Eugenics is a well researched look into examples of modern eugenics and the problems that arise from it. These topics range from the ethics of cloning, athletes using performance enhancing drugs, and other practical uses in everyday life. Sandel’s argument is that there is value in human nature (even with all its flaws), and genetic engineering will forever change human nature. Destroying the very essence of what it is to be human and scarring humanity. The main features of human nature that will be altered: are responsibility, humility and solidarity.

Ethical barriers prohibiting the practice of eugenics today include principles provided for in the American College Healthcare Executive code of Ethics (Board of Governors, 2016). The principles outlined in the code help protect the patients’ interests through guiding

By examining the genetic makeup of the fetus, inducing changes in his or her embryonic stem cells could modify the genes. Studies show that most parents want only the best for their child and by enhancing his or her genes allows the child to be the best. From the perspective of a child genetically modified, this threatens his or her freedom of action. Whether the child succeeds in life is not wholly determined by his or her efforts to do well, but determined by decisions made by parents before birth. No longer able to accept responsibility for the things the child does, it is speculated that parents will no longer view their children as something they are obligated to raise and love. Instead, the parents would see their child almost like a mere consumer product that they have high expectations for before they buy it. The freedom of action a child has would be destroyed through a parent’s high expectations.

The Jewish Holocaust was one of the most tragic and terrifying events in the history of the world. Within only 2 years, five and a half million Jewish people were killed. (Sparks) The world stood aghast as the word spread of this mass genocide. It was also known that behind the genocide was Eugenics, an attempt at creating a master race through genetic engineering. Many children lost their parents and their lives because of this corrupt belief. An entire population was wiped out at the hands of a man that makes most people cringe: Adolph Hitler and his accomplice, Josef Mengele. He was fascinated and intrigued by this new technology that developed in the United States in the 1930’s. This technology gave him this idea and rationale for his master race movement. This was the negative reputation Eugenics received and rightfully deserved. Creating a perfect human is what Hitler tried to do in the 1930’s. Is there any guarantee that eugenics would be more socially acceptable