Civic Biology Controversy

1150 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Controversy of eugenics

Hunter's book of Civic Biology was so controversial because of conflicting ideas between creationists and evolutionists, and its support of eugenics. A Civic Biology (1914) by George William Hunter is a Biology Textbook that fueled lots of controversy in 1925 during the Scopes trial, a battle between Evolutionists and Creationists in the confinement of a courtroom. A Civic Biology was the most widely used textbook in the US for nearly a decade, and many people had conflicting ideas about it.
Creationist's beliefs in God and creation make them more inclined to disapprove of "A Civic Biology.” Most Creationists in the early 1900s had a strong belief system that did not support evolution or anything related to it. Creationism is “The doctrine …show more content…

Many terrible things ensued with eugenics in the US, such as mandatory abortions, sterilizations, discrimination, and devaluation of human life (Hill). “In the USA, eugenics societies held competitions to find the genetically fittest families.” (“Who Am I?”) Human life was treated as a science experiment rather than people with human rights to marry whoever they want. Nazis quoted Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes saying, "It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind…. Three generations of imbeciles are enough." when he was talking about eugenics, and this contributed to the Holocaust, which killed millions of Jews. Hitler legitimized his ideas using American eugenics, gaining many followers by saying that science was on his side (Black). Eugenics ideas were at their height in USA and Germany in the 1930s, and around 25,000 Americans were sterilized around the 1930s due to a mental illness or physical disability. (“Who Am

Show More
Related

  • Robert Root-Bernstein And Mceachron: Article Analysis

    519 Words  | 2 Pages

    Robert Root-Bernstein and Donald L. McEachron, “Teaching Theories: The Evolution-Creation Controversy,” The American Biology Teacher, Vol. 44, No. 7 (Oct…1982). This article, written by Robert Root-Bernstein and Donald L. McEachron sheds light on the controversy of evolution vs creationism in schools and the validity of each being called a scientific theory. The work was created to answer the questions, “Which of these theories is truly scientific and which is a religious belief? Which should be taught in schools?” The article concluded in favor of evolution as a valid scientific theory that should be taught rather than creationism, but also mentioned the worth of understanding the latter.

    Read More

  • Buck V Bell Case Study

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ng on Justice Douglas view, it is not right to use genetics and issues of hereditary in legal decisions (Reilly, 1991). Such natural aspects should not violate the individual’s right of procreation and fourteen amendments. Everybody is therefore entitled to basic civic rights. Eugenics movement disappeared after the atrocities by the Germany regime. Although Holmes there was overturning of Homes decision eventually, Ms. Buck and many feebleminded American citizens were victims of State and Supreme Court immorality. Reviewing of the focus period, neither society nor individual got benefits of Compulsory sterilization statutes. The change of attitudes towards mental handicapped people over time is interesting. From late 1950s in the United States, civil and women rights movement, contribute to acts governing the handicapped rights including their rights to reproduce.

    Read More

  • Summary Of The American Eugenics Movement

    1071 Words  | 3 Pages

    The American Eugenics Movement was led by Charles Davenport and was a social agenda to breed out undesirable traits with an aim of racial purification. Eugenics was a used to breed out the worst and weakest to improve the genetic composition of the human race, and advocated for selective breeding to achieve this. The science of eugenics rested on simple mendelian genetics, which was a mistake because they were assuming complex behaviors could be reduced to simple mendelian genes. After Nazi Germany adopted the ideas behind the American eugenics movement to promote the Aryan race, the eugenics movement was completely discredited.

    Read More

  • Outcome of The Scopes Monkey Trial

    1564 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Scopes Trial, formally known as The State of Tennessee vs. Scopes but given the nickname “The Monkey Trial”, has been credited as starting the popular legal dispute between evolution and creationism in the court, and its impact in the 20’s was immeasurable. The interpretation of the case is just as popular, if not more, than the actual result of the case. The worldwide attention and media coverage the case received produced many opinions. Scholar’s opinions range from describing the case as an irrelevancy and a good show to describing it as a “Watershed in American religious history” (Ronald L. Numbers, 1998, p. 76).

    Read More

  • Individual Liberty Versus Majoritarian Democracy in Edward Larson’s Summer For the Gods

    864 Words  | 2 Pages

    simple terms: either Darwin or the Bible was true.” (265) The road to the trial began when Tennessee passed the Butler Act in 1925 banning the teaching of evolution in secondary schools. It was only a matter of time before a young biology teacher, John T. Scopes, prompted by the ACLU, tested the law. Spectators and newspapermen came from all over to witness whether science or religion would win the day. Yet, below all the hype, the trial had a deeper meaning.

    Read More

  • Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz

    1621 Words  | 4 Pages

    Loewenberg, Bert J. "The Reaction of American Scientists to Darwinism." American Historical Review. 38 (1933): 687-701.

    Read More

  • The History Of The Scopes Monkey Trial

    1647 Words  | 4 Pages

    Charles Darwin, the Father of Evolution, was a British scientist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution, transforming the thinking of the entire world about the living things around us (Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882)). After working on his theory for nearly 20 years, he published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. As soon as the book was released, the controversy began with each sides gaining followers until the climax on July 10, 1925. The idea that animals could “evolve” and change into new species, including humans, was one that challenged not only how people thought about the natural world, but challenged the story of the creation from the Bible itself. Even though Darwin himself never said that humans “evolved” from apes, everyone took it as a logical extension of his new theory. It went against the idea of argument for design that had unified theology and science for decades (Moran 5). This new threat to Christianity and the social culture of the time was one that would transform state laws on their educational curriculum.

    Read More

  • Scopes Trial: Teaching Evolution In The 1920's

    1647 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many people feared the topic or term of evolution because they thought if someone is talking about evolution in a scientific way than it was against their religion. Many people have different views or opinions on evolution, in the 1920’s many people immediately associated the term evolution and automatically related it in biblical terms of evolution. Most people when someone would talk about evolution and relate it to science they would get offended because they believed differently because of their religion. “By the 1930’s most of the urban churches of America had been able to reconcile Darwin's theory with the Bible,but rural preachers preferred a stricter interpretation (The Monkey Trial).” The people who got offended about people talking about evolution in another way than the bible also thought it was against their religion to teach or talk about evolution in a fear that it could affect how their children thought about their religion.”In the years that followed his 1859 declaration America's churches hotly debated whether to accept the findings of modern science continues following the teaching of ancient scripture (The Monkey Trial)”. Many parents feared that if their child or children were taught evolution that then that would influence their religion. Multiple parents were very upset that their children were taught Darwin's theory of evolution. “By 1925, Bryan and his followers had succeeded in getting

    Read More

  • Science V. Religion: The Scopes Monkey Trial

    1401 Words  | 3 Pages

    The 1920’s were a time of change. New ideas were becoming more readily experimented with and even accepted by large portions of the population. Some of these included jazz music and the fight against the alcoholic prohibition. The radical idea I will focus on in this paper, however, is Evolution. It is a theory that had been around for over half a century before the 20’s but had only more recently caught on in the US. It contradicted the Christian theory of Divine Creation as described in the Bible. This caused many religious fundamentalists to fight against it. They took their battle to the law books, and they were challenged by pro-evolution modernists in the Scopes "Monkey Trial" of 1925.

    Read More

  • Euthanasia Programs of Nazi Germany

    1648 Words  | 4 Pages

    The T4 program was not the beginning of Germany’s effort to reach a super race. Leading up to the war Hitler enacted the “Law for the Prevention of Progeny with Hereditary Diseases” in the year of 1933. The law called for the sterilization of anyone that had any hereditary illnesses. The list of hereditary illnesses included: “schizophrenia, epilepsy, senile disorders, therapy resistant paralysis and syphilitic diseases, retardation, encephalitis, Huntington’s chorea and other neurological conditions.” (History Place) This law was enforced by opening 200 genetic health courts that would analyze the medical records of individuals and decide if they were to be sterilized or not. The sterilization of people usually involved the use of drugs, x-rays, or uterine irritants. Dr. Horst Schumann did a lot of these experiments with sterilization at Auschwitz, where he would take a group of men/women and would expose them to x-rays. Most of his experiments with x-rays were disappointing but he kept using this method. After he subjected his subjects to x...

    Read More

  • The Nazi Euthanasia Program

    1344 Words  | 3 Pages

    To solve this he made a new wave of propaganda “through newspapers, radios, and films” (“Introduction to Nazi Euthanasia”). The colorful commercials covered what would soon become the first mass murder program for the Nazi’s (“Euthanasia Program”). The commercials said that the “program would benefit society by not allowing “inferior people” to be produced and getting a lot more “superior people” in return” (“Introduction to Nazi Euthanasia”). The program was derived from Darwin’s Theories of Evolution (“Introduction to Nazi Euthanasia”). A new field of science called eugenics was created and helped to make the program seem more credible. Eugenics was defined as the “science of the improvement of the human race by better breeding” (“Introduction to Nazi Euthanasia”). The first eugenics institute was at the University College of London (“Introduction to Nazi Euthanasia”). The public believed that Euthanasia was a good thing and Hitler was able to put the killings into

    Read More

  • The Eugenics Movement for Criminality

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    The eugenics movement started in the early 1900s and was adopted by doctors and the general public during the 1920s. The movement aimed to create a better society through the monitoring of genetic traits through selective heredity. Over time, eugenics took on two different views. Supporters of positive eugenics believed in promoting childbearing by a class who was “genetically superior.” On the contrary, proponents of negative eugenics tried to monitor society’s flaws through the sterilization of the “inferior.”

    Read More

  • Should Intelligent Design be Taught in Public Schools?

    1653 Words  | 4 Pages

    Since the time that teaching evolution in public schools was banned as heresy and taboo for contradicting the Bible, most public school systems today take an opposite approach in which creationism is seldom ta...

    Read More

  • Nazi Eugenics and Racial Hygiene

    1198 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Nazi’s perpetrated many horrors during the Holocaust. They enacted many cruel laws. They brainwashed millions into foolishly following them and believing their every word using deceitful propaganda tactics. They forced many to suffer doing embarrassing jobs and to live in crowded ghettos. They created mobile killing squads to exterminate their enemies. Finally, as part of “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question”, they made concentration and killing camps. Another thing the Nazi’s did was to use eugenics as another mean to micromanage the population. What is eugenics, you might ask? It’s the field of scientific study or the belief in genetically improving qualities, attributes and traits in the human race and/or improving the species as a whole—usually done by controlled/selective breeding. Those with positive, desirable, and superior traits are encouraged to reproduce and may be given monetary incentives by the government to have large families. Those with negative, undesirable, or inferior traits may be discouraged from having offspring. They may be sterilized, or undergo dangerous medical procedures or operations with high mortality rates. I chose this topic because it appealed to me and seemed interesting. In the following paragraphs, the tactics, methods, and propaganda the Nazi’s used will be exposed.

    Read More

  • Essay On Nazi Germany A Totalitarian State

    2864 Words  | 6 Pages

    The treatment of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi’s can be described as actions that could only be done by a totalitarian state. Hitler believed in eugenics, the idea of improving a race by selective breeding. Nazi ideology of the Jewish race was severe anti-Semitism and pure hatred. The Nazi policy towards the Jews has been said to be the most brutal and horrific example of anti-Semitism in history.

    Read More

More about Civic Biology Controversy

Open Document