Essay on Eugenics

Eugenics was introduced by sir Francis galton who, interestingly enough, was a cousin of Charles Darwin. It began as a way to better the human race and stop negative genetic traits from continuing on generation to generation. Eugenics may have started out as a way to better humans but it became something much worse.

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.

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.

Eugenics is the scientific belief that through “selective breeding… and [the] restriction of reproduction by birth control or surgical procedures” (Thomson), a ‘better’ and more productive society could develop. Similar to the ideas of Social Darwinists, Eugenicists used medical intervention to weed out the unfit members of society(anyone who was not white), and continued to grow the population of the ‘fit members. People believed that ‘unfit’ members of society had genes that would bring society down as a whole, and “race mixing, or crossbreeding, would deplete the national fitness of Anglo-Saxon Americans” (Thomson). Eugenics during the progressive Era: Although most progressive thinkers were against the Social Darwinist theory, there

The Oxford University Press defines eugenics as “the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics” with a further—and rather illuminating—explanation which states, “Developed largely by Francis Galton as a method of improving the human race, it fell into disfavor only after the perversion of its doctrines by the Nazis”.

Eugenics is a taboo science, but back in 1883 it was a modern advancement, discovered by Francis Galton (Carlson). Galton’s original mission was to improve humanity by encouraging the best and healthiest couples to simply have more children; Galton created positive eugenics (Carlson). However, with the positive comes the inevitable negative. Negative Eugenics was more set on preventing the least able from reproducing, in order to preserve the fitness of the

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.

The Eugenics movement was an act of getting rid of traits that were considered unwanted. The word “eugenics” was first conceived by Francis Galton and it comes from Greek, meaning “good birth”. The purpose of Eugenics was to improve the human race by sterilizing people with “undesirable” traits such as mental disability, dwarfism, etc. In 1910, the Eugenics Record Office (ERO) was founded by Charles Davenport to improve qualities within the human family. The ERO existed for three decades and this movement began to lose power in the 1940s.

There are some scientist and the public that concluded that human cloning would aid in the progress of genetic knowledge and human advancement. In John Harris article, Is gene Therapy a Form of Eugenics?, he brings forth the issue of disabilities. He advocates that if we have the genetic means to create people free of disabilities, then gene therapy eugenics should be allowed. This would be a form of reproductive cloning. John Harris wrote, “It is not that the genetically weak should be discouraged from reproducing but that everyone should be discouraged from reproducing children who will be significantly harmed by their genetic constitution.” 3 This would insure people with genetic defects to have health children. Even in Dan Brock’s essay he points out the positive positions on the benefits of cloning for genetic reasons. He admits that even though cloning is not the natural way for reproduction, it could lead to some good things genetically. Cloning technology could also teach doctors how to renew damaged cells by growing new cells and replacing them. The study of cell differentiation could be enhanced by studying the development of a clone. Cloning could be used to produce extra human organs or prevent hereditary diseases. This process even could be capable of reproducing someone who died to help alleviate the pain of loss. In a bigger aspect, some of our most talented people or genius could be recreated like Mozart or Einstein. However, as Brock brings his essay

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

There is much bias and confusion surrounding the topic of eugenics. Many times the reason for this is the lack of understanding of what the term means, where it states “In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a respected British scholar, and cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term eugenics, meaning ‘well-born.’ (Genetics Generation, 2015).” This term has evolved to encompass more than just “well-born” as can be seen in the encyclopedia. “The eleventh edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica defines eugenics as ‘the organic betterment of the race through wise application of the laws of heredity.’ (Court, 2004).” The meaning of the word eugenics, due to the way it has been used, confuses many people.

For example, the process of therapeutic cloning allows scientists to evaluate how the body could potentially reduce the need for organ transplant to occur in the first place. Therefore, the cells would be developed based on a person's own unique genetics and DNA. There would no longer be a need for a second surgery of a donor in order for a transplant to be successful. Medical treatments would be individually based and this would ultimately protect the privacy of the person. So, therapeutic cloning will get the organs and it would create the person's own cells. There would be a much reduced risk of organ rejections once a transplant procedure was successfully completed.

The theory of Eugenics can be dated back all the way to 400 B.C. but was not popularized until the mid-1800s by an English scientist, Francis Galton. He researched and published the theory that aimed to improve the genetic quality of the human population through selective breeding (NC Office of Archives and History). As the half-cousin of Charles Darwin, Galton applied the Darwinism science (survival of the fittest) to heredity characteristics. Two types of Eugenics stemmed from the theory, positive and negative. Positive eugenics is encouraging the “best” people in the society based on financial and personal features to have more children while negative eugenics is picking people with flaws and defects from the population

Modern medicine today has made incredible advancements into extending human lives. With these developments we are able to fight off certain fatal diseases, provide cures for what seems incurable and expand the human lifespan. In recent years, however, medicine has taken wrong turns in the struggle to cure and prevent disease. Eugenics is a practice that many seem to believe is a road that should not have been explored. Eugenics is the scientific deal of improving human reproduction of genetic specifications of a particular race or breed. Positive Eugenics is relative to those who seem the most able and healthy with little to no history of medical abnormalities. The negative practice centers on manipulating those who are considered genetically weak in society, coercing these individuals to believe they are unfit for having children. Eugenicists believed that this practice would help to eliminate any hereditary dysfunctions that a person carries and inhibit the passing on of what is considered to be harmful traits. Many people in this movement relied on the idea of sterilization being the way to relieve society of harmful disorders that they specified was unfit. The state of North Carolina has played a significant role in this practice of sterilization which leads others to discuss the legal and ethical standards for decision making that vary state to state. Is it inhumane for health professional to make medical decisions for those believed unfit for society? Because of the

Eugenics, the word that got its bad reputation years ago through an event that changed history: the Holocaust. First dubbed by Francis Galton in the 1880’s, the word Eugenics stemmed from the words “good” and “generation.” (Eugenics-Meanings) Eugenics means the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population. This improvement is done through discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics); or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics). (Contemporary)There have always been heated discussions over right or wrong, moral or immoral concerning