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Short note on Eugenics
Short note on Eugenics
Short note on Eugenics
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The study of eugenics has been around for many years. China runs the largest and most successful eugenics program in the world. This is becoming more common and accepted by many people. However, simply because it is accepted does not make it right. Eugenics comes from the Greek word meaning “good” or “well born”. It is the belief that some people are genetically superior to others; and that one inherits their relatives’ mental and psychological traits. Eugenics started off as a positive theory, encouraging educated people (positive eugenics) to bear more children and raise them in a constructive manner, but has become a negative theory threatening the sterilization of people with unwanted traits (negative eugenics).
The use of eugenics is not a guaranteed process. There is no such thing as a perfect person. Therefore, you cannot create one by only using educated, wealthy, or desirable people. The truth is, a person with all the right traits or genes could produce a mentally ill child. On the other hand, a person with a mental illness, or an undesirable trait could produce a smart, attractive, desired child. All people are born the same, the choices you make and the way you are raised make you who you are. We are all born with the right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Consequently, eugenics is trying to take the right of a person to bear children away because of their place in life.
Sterilization of a person is morally inhuman. The right to bear children is a God given right and we have no authority to take that away from them. Although somebody who is incarcerated or has mental defects doesn’t mean we should take away their reproductive systems. It is not a proven fact that because that person has negative traits th...
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... life. While they visited her they said she was of normal intelligence and regretted not being able to bear more children. Carrie’s sister, Doris, also married and was unable to have children. However, they both were normal individuals, despite of how their mother was.
Contrary to the saying “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” in some cases it does. People allow their attitudes about others to be shaped by the belief that people will turn out exactly like their relatives. However, as shown in the Carrie Buck story, that is not always true. There is no such thing as a perfect person so eugenics cannot create one. Although, it sounds good to say the incarcerated, mentally ill, or homeless don’t need to produce children that our tax-paying society has to pay for. It is still morally wrong and we nor any other person have the right to take that away from them.
On October 19, 1927, a “feebleminded,” young woman was robbed. This young woman’s name is Carrie Buck and her ability to conceive children was taken from her without her consent or knowledge. This decision would not only impact those already affected by unauthorized sterilization, but for those whom would later be sterilized. The Supreme Court’s ruled the sterilization of Carrie Buck to be constitutional on the grounds of it being better for society, better for the individual, and eugenic evidence.
The concept of eugenics was not initially intended to prevent overcrowding, however, it would later be used as a form of population control. Eugenics is the idea of improving society by breeding fitter people. Francis Galton was the first person to originate this term and was a major proponent of the concept during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The practice of eugenics was originally performed through the use of selective breeding. Eugenics was a progressive idea, driven by social perceptions. In fact, "many of its most strident advocates were socialist, who saw eugenics as enlightened state planning of reproduction."2 Fearing the degradation of society, the elite desired to prevent further social decay of the world by eliminating individuals who were considered unfit physically, mentally, or socially.
The term eugenics was coined in the late 19th century. Its goal was to apply the breeding practices and techniques used in plants and animals to human reproduction. Francis Galton stated in his Essays in Eugenics that he wished to influence "the useful classes" in society to put more of their DNA in the gene pool. The goal was to collect records of families who were successful by virtue of having three or more adult male children who have gain superior positions to their peers. His view on eugenics can best be summarized by the following passage:
The practice of eugenics was instituted in the late nineteenth century. Its objective was to apply the rearing practices and procedures utilized as a part of plants and creatures to human procreation. Francis Galton expressed in his Essays in Eugenics that he wished to impact "the useful classes" in the public arena to put a greater amount of their DNA in the gene pool. The objective was to gather records of families who were effective by virtue of having three or more grown-up male kids who had better positions than their associates. His perspective on eugenics can best be expressed by the accompanying section:
Eugenics, the set of beliefs and practices which aim at improving the genetic quality of the human population played a significant role in the history and culture of United States prior to its involvement in World War Two. (Wiki) Gilman is the writer of late 19th and early 20th century and during this century which is known as progressive era, Eugenics was considered a method of preserving and improving the dominant groups in the population. The idea of Eugenics was brought up by Sir Francis Galton in America. They think that by the idea of eugenics there will be a development in a society. America also made American Breeder’s Association which later on founded the Eugenics Record office, and with certain mission and, in their mission statement, they wrote: Society must protect itself; as it claims the right to deprive the murder of his life so it may also annihilate the hideous serpent of hopelessly vicious protoplasm. Here is where appropriate legislation will aid in eugenics and creating a healthier, saner society in the
The eugenics movement was a period of time when it was believe that the genes of your father and mother gave rise to any and all traits, whether it be physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and moral. Essentially, eugenics established that all of a persons appearance, skill, and potential was rooted in your genes.
Eugenics- Eugenics is a term coined by Francis Galton in 1883 and it is the belief and practice of improving the genetic quality of the human population. This idea that one could trace hereditary problems and find solutions for them gained significant ground in addressing certain societal issues such as poor people and welfare. Two types of eugenics emerged, positive and negative, but the U.S., negative eugenics was preferred. This is the idea of destroying defectives and degenerates from the population to promote and preserve the fittest, a very social Darwinist idea. This is important to sexuality because many homosexuals were sterilized, thus creating the stigma that homosexuality was a disease that could be cured.
It was also this case, at least in part, which led to the acceptable sterilization of thousands of Americans and around 350,000 people in Nazi Germany in 1933. While there are definitely positive uses for eugenics within today's society including healthy children and a decreased population over time which would require less resources from the planet, there seem to be an outweighing of negative results in the form of forced sterilization, breaches of human rights and an overall misuse of power which could lead to a new threat on par with Nazi Germany.
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.”
Eugenics is the future of modifying the Human body naturally with no injections or experimental drugs necessary. This could lead to the best version of the human race that has walked this planet. This could make the world all of us live in a disease free world full of healthy people. According to Biograpghy.com Eugenics got
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 mandating organized sterilization and race based experimentation.
The history of harmful eugenic practices, spurring from the Nazi implementations of discrimination towards biologically inferior people has given eugenics a negative stigma (1,Kitcher, 190). Genetic testing, as Kitcher sees it through a minimalistic perspective, should be restrained to aiding future children with extremely low qualities of life (2,Kitcher, 190). He believes that genetic engineering should only be used to avoid disease and illness serving the role of creating a healthier human race. He promotes laissez-faire eugenics, a “hands off” concept that corresponds to three components of eugenic practice, discrimination, coercion and division of traits. It holds the underlying works of genetic testing, accurate information, open access, and freedom of choice. Laissez-faire eugenics promises to enhance reproductive freedom preventing early child death due to genetic disease (3,Kitcher, 198). However there are dangers in Laissez-faire that Kitcher wants to avoid. The first is the historical tendency of population control, eugenics can go from avoiding suffering, to catering to a set of social values that will cause the practice of genetics to become prejudiced, insensitive and superficial. The second is that prenatal testing will become limited to the upper class, leaving the lower class with fewer options, creating biologically driven social barriers. Furthermore the decay of disability support systems due to prenatal testing can lead to an increased pressure to eliminate those unfit for society (4,Kitcher, 214).
In the 1920s, a company in New York started a movement known as “The Eugenics Movement.” The idea of eugenics was eventually picked up by Germany, China, Peru, India and Bangladesh. The movement is still in effect till this day; however, it is not as prevalent as it once was.
When created in 1923, the American Eugenics Society exemplified an air of reform with a seemingly positive purpose, however this cannot be further from the truth. In reality, the society polluted the air with myths of weeding out imperfections with the Galtonian ideal, the breeding of the fittest (Carison). The founder of the society, Charles Davensport , preached that those who are imperfect should be eliminated(Marks). From the school desk to the pulpit, the fallacies of the eugenics movement were forced into society. Preachers often encouraged the best to marry the best while biology professors would encourage DNA testing to find out ones fate (Selden). A...
Many peoples have a very different mind on opinion on what eugenics is and if they are ethical or not. I think that eugenics is a very non-ethical thing as you start to compare humans. This often leads to holocausts such as I explained in Germany and Australia. When we start to compare and discriminate peoples we cause conflict.