2nd International Congress of Eugenics held in 1921

Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911) – ‘Father’ of eugenics and cousin of Charles Darwin
“Every 15 seconds, $100 of your money goes for the care of persons with bad heredity,
such as the insane, feeble-minded, criminals, and other defectives” – American
Eugenics Society, 1929
Miscegenation – the prohibition of interbreeding between different races
“Only Genetically Healthy Offspring Ensure the Strength of the People. We do not stand
alone” (1936)
 Selective breeding and
domestication
• Evidence of ritual sacrifice of people with unusual bone growth patterns in
European Upper Paleolithic (c.26,000-8,000 BC).[1]
• Domestication of plants and animals;
• Dog – East Asia; 15,000BC.
• Wild Rye – Syria; 11,000 BC.
• Wild grasses ‘encouraged’ to be made into foodstuffs.
• Wild animals ‘cajoled’ into working with humans
 Plato
•In Plato’s Republic he
suggested that the state
be divided into 3 classes;
Guardians, Philosophers
and Commoners. http://faculty.frostburg.e
du/phil/forum/Plato-
•The Philosophers 3.jpg[]

established who would

breed.
•Thus children were bred
to their caste.
•This was to keep the
• It appears in the Athenian legislation of
Solon, Solon conceded to the father the
power of killing his children. According to
Plutarch (Solon, xxii.), he sanctioned the
exposure (being left to the elements) of
natural children.[2]
 This is..

Sparta
•Spartan law
decreed that all
Spartan
children were
inspected •The role of women was
before being to continually produce
allowed to live. fit children.
•Children who •However by 371bc this
showed policy left Sparta with
physical only 1000 Spartiates,
weakness or that year they lost the
mental
 Rome
• Insignis ad deformitatem (kill the deformed)
• “We drown the weakling and the monstrosity. It is not
passion, but reason, to separate the useless from the
fit." – Seneca the Elder
• Legislation had to be passed to limit infanticide.
Romulus is said to have forbidden the murder of sons
and first-born daughters.
 Age of Christianity
(272 AD +)
• The objectives of eugenics were
incompatible with Christianity. Infanticide
was prohibited the 1st Christian Emperor,
Constantine.
 Resurgence
(1800s)
•Darwin’s theory of natural
selection leads to the
concept of Social
Darwinism.
•Malthus argued that as an
increasing population
would outgrow its food
supply, this would result in
the starvation of the
weakest.
•Social Darwinism says
 Nietzsche
•Nietzche wrote about the
Ubermensch, and the
natural right of the strong to
dominate the weak.
•His work was influential
and helped spread eugenics
ideas from a philosophical
perspective.
 Birth of modern
eugenics – Sir.
Francis Galton
•"Eugenics is the study of
the agencies under social
control that may improve
or impair the racial
qualities of future
generations either
physically or
mentally.“[3]
•Hereditary Genius in 1869
• He advocated encouraging eugenic
marriages by supplying incentives to the
worthy.
• His study of human abilities led to the
foundation of differential psychology, the
first mental tests, and the scientific study
of human intelligence.
• His work in Eugenics laid the foundation
for and aided the development of many
other fields of science
 Nazi Germany
• Directly inspired by Nietzche.
• Established Hereditary Health Courts.
• Over 400,000 people with hereditary illness
where sterilized.
• Outright killing of around 225,000 people
with physical or mental disabilities under
Aktion T4 between 1939 and 1945 .
• Extended this to Jews and political
undesirables.
• Eugenics fell out of favor after this.
Some contemporary believers in
Eugenics
• Winston Churchill
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Marie Stopes
• George Bernard Shaw
• John Maynard Keynes
• Theodore Roosevelt (26th US president
• Calvin Coolidge (30th US president)
• Margaret Sanger
• H.G. Wells
The Negatives of Eugenics in
Practice
 Great People
These people wouldn’t have
lived to make their cultural
and scientific contributions
(there are many more):
Einstein: Autism (Aspergers), Dyslexia
Newton: Autism (Aspergers)
Steven Fry: Bi-Polar
Van Gough: Bi-Polar
 Removes variation from the gene pool

• Removes variation from the gene pool

• The general population will become less
creative
• Places one person as better than another
(the basis for racism)
• Society will become less interesting with
clone like similarities
 Ethical objections
• Do people have a right to have children?
• Can conflict with an individuals right to life!
• Nazis used cruel and unethical
experiments on individuals with
“undesirable” characteristics
• This undermines one of its principles of
“lessening human suffering”
 The Nazis
• The Nazis used Eugenics as a scientific
bases for them to commit genetic
genocide
• The Nazis believed that they were
‘improving the gene pool’
• At what point does enforcing Eugenic
principles become genocide?
 But...we do it to animals?
• Ignore ethics for a minute

Greater stature, more meat and faster maturation.

A placid temperament
A different coloured coat.

Higher milk yield.

Enhanced instincts (e.g. herding in collies)

Greater stamina for fighting.

 What benefits would Eugenics give us?
• Ignore ethics for a minute

What factors would a eugenicist really want to enhance within man?

Intelligence, however defined.

Stature.

Loyalty. Which is probably measured by gullibility +

courage.

Longevity.
Health and fitness.
 Eugenics in practice without
genocide
Voluntary sterilization Sperm ‘n’ egg donors

Slowly stop breeding with stupid people!

Does it have a future?
Doubtful in the ‘traditional’ sense.
Selective breeding will probably continue in a more
advanced form as genetic engineering [GE], where the
process of manipulating genetic patterns is a more exact
science. GE removes the element of natural uncertainty
which we get with selective breeding, and allows us to get
more precise results, faster.
Hopefully with a better understanding of genetic
interactions and with well discussed and agreed upon
ethics, we can use this knowledge for good, improving the
world without taking life or civil liberties.
Though we can ‘improve’ the science of genetic
engineering, we cannot ‘improve’ the philosophy; the deep
questions will remain the same. We can simply do our
best, obey medical laws and see if values become more
permissible over time
Whenever we choose to manipulate the genetic tapestry,
there is some aspect of Eugenics at work.
 References

• Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) (2006) Eugenics [online] Random House. Available from:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/eugenics [Accessed 31 December 2007]
• Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) (2002) Eugenics [online] Houghton Mifflin Company.
Available from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/eugenics [Accessed 31 December 2007]
• Susanne, ‘Eugenics Lecture’ (2006) Eugenics Lecture [online]. University of California, Berkeley.
Available from: http://virtualatdp.berkeley.edu:8081/2657/lectures/eugenics/0 [Accessed 31
December 2007]

Images

• ‘Vida Y Matematicas’ (nd) francis-galton.jpg [online]. Available from:

http://profeblog.es/pedro/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/francis-galton.jpg [Accessed 31 December
2007]
• Toscani, O (nd) The Family of the Future [online]. ElectricArtists. Available from:
http://www.businessinnovationinsider.com/Benetton%20ad.jpg [Accessed 31 December 2007]
• ‘Emotions.juhe.ee!’ (nd) Wir_stehen_nicht_allein.jpg [online]. Available from:
http://emotions.juhe.ee/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/Wir_stehen_nicht_allein.jpg
• Nilsson, L. (nd) foetus-20e-semaine.jpg [online]. Luxorion. Available from:
http://www.astrosurf.com/luxorion/Bio/foetus-20e-semaine.jpg [Accessed 31 December 2007]
 Jack’s References
• [1]
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Human-Sacrifice-and-Eug

• [2]The Arnold Prize Essay for 1913 by Allen G.

Roper, B.A. -Originally Published By B.H. Blackwell,
Broad Street, Oxford (1913)
• [3]http://www.euvolution.com/articles/ancient.htm
• [4]http://www.fdrs.org/eugenics_quotes.html
• [5]
http://www.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_34256532
/eugenics.htm
 Osh’s references
• http://mwillett.org/Politics/eugenics.htm

• http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/biochrom/20
00-March/002283.html

• http://www.truthtree.com/clone.shtml

• http://www.answers.com/topic/eugenics