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FEATURE ARTICLE/ HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES Eugenics: Past, Present, and the Future main idea
Eugenics impact on society
FEATURE ARTICLE/ HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES Eugenics: Past, Present, and the Future main idea
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Barr Balamuth
6/30/14
“Life Unworthy of Life”: How the T4 Euthanasia Program Set the Stage for the Holocaust
As medical science has advanced at an increasingly rapid rate over the last two centuries, the morality of new practices and when to utilize them has often come into question. With their past pursuits of cutting-edge treatments, many doctors and professionals have disregarded the humanistic health care ideals set forth in the Hippocratic Oath, which famously requires all future doctors to swear to “never do harm.” In late 19th century Britain, this pursuit led to the formation of the eugenics movement, which applied Charles Darwin’s natural selection theory of evolution, also known as the “survival of the fittest”, to humans. Supporters of the movement firmly believed that the quality of the human population could be physically enhanced through measures such as sterilization and genetic screening. In the United States, eugenics played a major role in the Progressive Movement as many saw it as a potential response to increasing overpopulation, which was seen as one of the main causes of societal ills such as poverty and disease. After World War I had ended in 1918, support for the eugenics movement began to gather momentum in Europe, especially in Germany, where the war and subsequent reparation payments had taken a serious toll. There, the ideologies of eugenics met the pressing economic and population growth concerns of a reeling German society. In his 1925 autobiography, Mein Kampf, a then-little known political prisoner named Adolf Hitler wrote: "The demand that defective people be prevented from propagating equally defective offspring is a demand of clearest reason and, if systematically executed, represents the mos...
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...ure of T4. Doctors and psychiatrists, many of whom were considered experts in their fields, were conditioned to defy Hippocratic principles, leading them to find the death of their patients to be a desirable outcome. Moreover, many of these professionals were willing to lend their significant credibility to the euthanasia program, manipulating desperate parents and mentally disabled patients so that the killings could continue uninterrupted. Though they acted under a veil of secrecy, these doctors took great pride in their work and many even received honorary medals. The cleansing of the disabled, they believed, was a noble cause. This conditioning was T4’s greatest achievement. Without the compliance of medical professionals, it is likely that the Nazis would never have been able to implement the euthanasia program, let alone the Final Solution.
Galton, David J., and Clare J. Galton. "Francis Galton: And Eugenics Today." Journal of Medical Ethics, 24.2 (1998): 99-101. JSTOR. Web. 8 Mar. 2010.
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 History Place - Holocaust Timeline: Nazi Euthanasia." The History Place - Holocaust Timeline: Nazi Euthanasia. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
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
Reich, Warren T. “The Care-Based Ethic of Nazi Medicine and the Moral Importance of What We Care About”. American Journal of Bioethics 1.1 (2001): 64-74. Academic Search Complete. Web. 17 Oct. 2013.
The Holocaust was a bloody, terrifying event that unfortunately happened during the world’s most bloody war, World War II. The end result of a portion of deaths of the Holocaust resulted in astounding number of about 6,000,000 Jewish people dead. However, there were about 13,684,900 other lives that were taken during this “cleansing period” that Adolf Hitler once said. Those lives included civilians in surrounding countries, resisters against the Nazi nation, opposing religious members, and many more. Although, over 6,000,000 Jewish people died, many others died who are just as memorable.
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: Did the Eugenics Movement Benefit the United States?" History in Dispute. Ed. Robert J. Allison. Vol. 3: American Social and Political Movements, 1900-1945: Pursuit of Progress. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. 17-23. Canada In Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2014.
Opposing Viewpoints."Introduction to Euthanasia: Opposing Viewpoints." Euthanasia. Ed. Carrie Snyder. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. http://ic.galegroup.com.library.collin.edu/ic/ovic/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=2&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CEJ3010134107&userGroupName=txshracd2497&jsid=af2eacb374dfea6a89c0773d16c35a50
Euthanasia is the intentional killing of someone, by action or neglect, who is defenseless or reliant upon others for their supposed benefit. The word, in its oldest form, meant gentle or good death, but now it is used in the same context as terms like mercy killing, assisted suicide, and physician- assisted death. However, euthanasia is not a recent concern; it has been practiced as early as the 1700’s, but it did not become widely known until the 1900’s when Adolf Hitler euthanized countless of mentally, physically, and terminally ill people in the first attempts to “cleanse” the German population. Euthanasia is only a broad term: there are many subjects that fall under it such as voluntary, involuntary, active, and passive. Voluntary is
"Science as Salvation: Weimar Eugenics, 1919–1933." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 27 May 2014.
My claim: I argue in favor of the right to die. If someone is suffering from a terminal illness that is: 1) causing them great pain – the pain they are suffering outweighs their will to live (clarification below) 2) wants to commit suicide, and is of sound mind such that their wanting is reasonable. In this context, “sound mind” means the ability to logically reason and not act on impulses or emotions. 3) the pain cannot be reduced to the level where they no longer want to commit suicide, then they should have the right to commit suicide. It should not be considered wrong for someone to give that person the tools needed to commit suicide.
Any discussion that pertains to the topic of euthanasia must first include a clear definition of the key terms and issues. With this in mind, it should be noted that euthanasia includes both what has been called physician-assisted "suicide" and voluntary active euthanasia. Physician-assisted suicide involves providing lethal medication(s) available to the patient to be used at a time of the patient’s own choosing (Boudreau, p.2, 2014). Indifferently, voluntary active euthanasia involves the physician taking an active role in carrying out the patient’s request, and usually involves intravenous delivery of a lethal substance. Physician-assisted suicide is felt to be easier psychologically for the physician and patient than euthanasia because
New York: New York University Press, 2012. Print. The. Kuhse, Helga. A. “Euthanasia.” A Companion to Ethics.
As we all know, medical treatment can help save lives. But is there a medical treatment that would actually help end life? Although it's often debated upon, the procedure is still used to help the aid of a patient's death. Usually dubbed as mercy killing, euthanasia is the "practice of ending a life so as to release an individual from an incurable disease or intolerable suffering" (Encarta). My argument over this topic is that euthanasia should have strict criteria over the use of it. There are different cases of euthanasia that should be looked at and different point of views that should be considered. I will be looking into VE (Voluntary Euthanasia), which involves a request by the dying patient or that person's legal representative. These different procedures are as follows: passive or negative euthanasia, which involves not doing something to prevent death or allowing someone to die and active or positive euthanasia which involves taking deliberate action to cause a death. I have reasons to believe that passive or negative euthanasia can be a humane way of end suffering, while active or positive euthanasia is not.