The Pros And Cons Of Eugenics

Eugenics is known as selective breeding in order to produce the most desirable traits and eliminating the negative ones. It has been a controversial subject in science for many years. Its negative implications mostly come from its early form in the United States by forced sterilization of women and men with “undesirable” traits and its later use in Nazi Germany during World War II. Modern eugenicists argue that new age eugenics does not seek to eradicate unwanted traits but instead improve the species making people as intelligent and healthy as possible (Taylor 114). Modern eugenics is divided into two categories: positive eugenics—the improvement one’s own genetic make-up—and negative eugenics—the removal of genetic disorders. Why should the public care? Eugenics has and continues to be one of the most controversial topics in the science community. Although eugenics today has better intentions than in the past, the negative aspects of it in terms of ethics and diversity outweigh the small possibility of a favorable outcome (Hix 17).

Eugenics was initially developed by Francis Galton and rooted from countries such as France, Germany, Great Britain, and America during the 1860s and 1870s. Francis Galton ready into Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. This theory meant to serve as an explanation of the evolution of both plants and animals over many years. Galton believed that these changes applied to humankind as well; he believed that desirable traits were hereditary, or inherited, based off of studies done in the field of biology. In 1883, Galton named his research "eugenics" and to this day, it is looked at as a highly controversial topic. During the 20th century, eugenics was an extremely popular social movement; countries ev...

... middle of paper ...

...of making one’s life the best it can be, eugenics is still not completely proven or ethical. Through studies of recessive genes and spontaneous diseases—down syndrome—It is proven that eugenics simply cannot eradicate all undesirable traits. Also, because it usually involves the destruction of human lives, it is clearly irrefutably unethical. However, the most important argument against eugenics is the fight against a designer society. Though it may be positive to rid the world of horrible disease, it would be negative to create a world where everyone possessed the same traits and thought the same way. There would be no novel ideas, no heroes, and no change. Society would progress to a point where it cannot anymore until it simply becomes one unit of what everyone thought they should be. Diversity promotes growth, change, and interest, and is therefore is necessary.