Individual Level Eugenics Essay

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I do believe that there is a meaningful distinction between population and individual- level eugenics. I believe that the main difference between the two comes down to choice. When thinking about population-level eugenics, it is hard to imagine scenario that does not involve the government’s will being enforced on the population. A governing body would essentially be implementing artificial natural selection by selecting the phenotypes in the population that they deem the most favorable. Whereas in individual- eugenics, it all comes down to the parent’s choice. There should not be any over-arching motives besides the preference for a specific phenotype or the yearn to give their offspring a better life by selecting for beneficial attributes. …show more content…

Individual-level eugenics poses very little risk to society, but rather seeks to improve the lives of many. In terms of risk, it seems like the greatest worry people have is the homogenization of traits. As I previously mentioned, the chance of phenotypic homogenization should not be an issue. Only in population-level eugenics should people worry about the creation of some Aryan-esque race. Individual-level allows parents to make their own decision regarding how their child looks and most parents would want their offspring to resemble them. Although with individual-level, there is the risk of traits like above-average athleticism or intelligence increasing in frequency. However, this should not be an issue because not everyone is going to want their child to be genetically modified, and the negatives of having a more intelligent society are sparse. Some may argue that if more children are enhanced in some way, that it may lead to an increase in bullying or children feeling inferior; however, those two issues are already prevalent in society. Another issue people may worry about is that there would be an increase in males due to cultural preferences in some countries. While this may be a valid concern, this issue has already become prominent absent of eugenics. In more progressive societies, being able to select a child’s sex may lead to a

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