The Understanding of Eugenics, and the Move Forward from Past Failures.

The Understanding of Eugenics, and the Move Forward from Past Failures.

Eugenics, from the Greek word Eu-genes, which means “well-born or of good stock”, In 1869 was the name given to the work produced by scientist Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911). Sir Francis Galton’s work was based primarily on the theories of biological evolution, first developed by Charles Darwin, and was published in his book “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859”. Charles Darwin theorized that all species of life descended from common ancestors, and that natural selection had a profound effect by using selective breeding to enhance its worth. Sir Francis Galton utilized Darwin’s theories, to propose that a man’s natural abilities where inherited through his ancestral genes (Hereditary Genius, Galton, 1869). With the work of Charles Darwin in hand, Sir Francis Galton, began expanding on his scientific basis. Henceforth, “The belief and practice of improving the genetic quality of the human population”, became the proposed definition of Sir Francis Galton’s phrase, Eugenics.

Bernard A. Fischer, States, In the Mid to late 1800’s, a host of new social problems where developing in the industrializing world, although highly ridiculed, Charles Darwin’s 1859 publication, “The origins of species”, set the stage for the Social Engineering concepts later called Social Darwinism (2012).

Alison Bashford, Phillipa Levine, and Marlene Saunders, Stated nearly the same definition of Eugenics, scientists tend to see the definition of Eugenics as being the creation of children through the selective reproduction of hereditarily superior human beings.

Bashford and Levine stated that, during the late 18th century, many countries had been studying heredit...

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...ncis Galton, F.R.S, Hereditary Genius, an inquiry into its laws an consequences, 1869

Eugenics and the Modern World, by Bashford, Alison; Levine, Philippa; The Oxford Handbook of the History of Eugenics, Oxford University Press: New York, NY. August 26, 2010

A Not-So-New Eugenics: Harris and Savalescu on Human Enhancement, by Robert Sparrow, Hastings Center Report, Volume 41, Number 1, January-February 2011, pp. 32-42 (Article)

The Human Genome Project: An Historical Perspective for Social Workers, by Marlene Saunders, Social Work in Public Health, Dept. of Social Work, Delaware State University, Dover Delaware, USA, June 27, 2011

Maltreatment of People with Serious Mental Illness in the Early 20th Century. A Focus on Nazi Germany and Eugenics in America, by Bernard A. Fischer, M.D., The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Volume 200, Number 12, December 2012