World War II : The Idea Of Creating A Master Race

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 defined, in some way or the other, as the process of reshaping the human race by determining the kinds of people who will be born. As such, there is much debate in the field of eugenics, with authors, like Philip Kitcher, who support laissez-faire or a minimalist approach of eugenics in which eugenic decision-making should be limited only to avoid neurological illnesses and in which parental free choice is valued. Gregory Stock’s essay, The Enhanced and Un-Enhanced, presents otherwise by supporting the position of maximalist eugenics, allowing individuals the full extent in the selection of genes. On the other hand, the film, Gattaca, raises major ethical problems by illustrating a dystopian society resulted by extensive

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.

Social Origin of Eugenics The American Eugenics developed from the reshaping of the social and economic problems that succeeded the Civil War. The latter was followed by rapid growth of American industry and increase in mechanization. As a result of the two factors, people started migrating from farms to cities leading to their expansion, and exploitation of labor led to creation of labor organizations. In 1873, prices fluctuated, and businesses experienced many problems because of crises taking place every decade until 1900 creating labor unrest.

Just think about a human race free of genetic disease where everyone is intelligent and where society and technology advance at staggering rates. This is the future that is envisioned by those who advocate eugenics. Eugenics is the study of methods to improve the human race by selection of parents based on their inherited characteristics (Hartl). The idea was first discussed by Sir Francis Galton in the 1880’s, but was widely unaccepted by people at first due to fear that it would take away their basic human rights and be misused (Hartl). In the early 20th century, eugenics was a very popular and widespread idea in the United States and there were laws created to encourage certain people to have children, while discouraging others from procreating (Morris 66). The main reason eugenics has fell into such disfavor is because the Nazis cited it as the reason for the Holocaust (Morris 66). The use of eugenics by the Nazis can be compared to the use Islam by ISIS, or the use of Christianity by the Westboro Baptist Church. It is a concept that can be misused based on interpretation and extremism. Eugenics itself is just an idea to improve the human race by selective breeding, not by killing millions. Forms of eugenics should be implemented in society because they eliminate genetic diseases and problems, spread favorable traits and attributes, create a more intelligent and less flawed society, and help advance the human race as a whole.

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

Eugenics is a set of beliefs that aim to better the human genetics for future generations . In the early 20th century scientists set out to advance the human race by killing off people who were labeled as an undesirable.This process was headed by the Eugenics Records Office which was government funded. They were in charge of in the sterilization of the “undesirables”. This group of people mostly consisted of the mentally retarded, criminals, and the feeble minded. However different ethnic groups people were brought into the fray without choice. This process continued until WWll when Adolf Hitler justified his malicious purge by using eugenics. Before it's end the eugenics was supported by 33 states and claimed over 65,000 lives.

But did the climax of the Holocaust cease the desire to create the “desirable” human? By 1939, in America, a movement called the “Negro Project” was started to control the ‘breeding’ of the Blacks in the South. In the 1960’s, the Eugenic movement was one of voluntary capitalistic culture. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, there was an explosion of popular and scientific literature based upon molecular genetics. By the 1980s, sperm banks that select donors according to intelligence, looks and success were high in popularity. Women with “desirable traits” were selling their eggs for high cash amounts (de Araujo-Sommer 2015). In 1997, a sheep named Dolly was the first mammal ever to be successfully cloned. The contemporary truth on Eugenics is that technology is at a stage where it is possible to clone humans and genetically engineer them. The modern day Eugenic push is based upon the ideological values of social formation where “quality of life = economic performance” (Raman, 2015).

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.

The New Oxford Dictionary defines Eugenics as, “the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics”. The desire to create a perfect human is impossible no matter how hard people try. The world is an imperfect place filled with imperfect people. The science of eugenics gives a false hope of what can actually be done. Eugenics will drive people to eliminate races who do not fit into the desirable characteristics that must be present in order to create and improve the perfect human population. Aspirations of eugenics can inspire genocide. For example, Adolf Hitler who is responsible for the genocide of millions of Jews had the mindset of eugenics. In the book, “The Origins of Nazi Genocide: From Euthanasia to the Final Solution”, communicates: “…scientists and physicians advocated…how…eugenic theories were

The US News ranked Yale #3 in the best National University in 2015. Yale’s historian Daniel Kevles offered a “tutorial on the Eugenics movement” and wanted to admonish its presence in the 20th century. He makes a connection to the Eugenics movement and the dawning of the “designer baby” and says “today, the driving force for human-genetic modification will be consumer demand, and with the biotech industry serving as “a new player in this game””. It's been said that ¨This will ultimately result in segregation between the superior ´modified´ humans, and the pure but inferior ones. Sooner or later,this situation will get ugly¨. The look on races, eye color and hair color will reverse from just traits to a more primitive ideas as used in Nazi Germany. There is no way to tell how this technology being available would change our society, with Hitler ¨life was cheap if you did not conform to the Aryan race

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.

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

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