Eugenics

Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population, historically by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior and promoting those judged to be superior.

History

The concept of eugenics was first formulated by Francis Galton in 1883, drawing on the recent work of his half-cousin Charles Darwin. From its inception, eugenics was supported by prominent people, including Margaret Sanger, Marie Stopes, H. G. Wells, Woodrow Wilson, Theodore Roosevelt, Emile Zola, George Bernard Shaw, John Maynard Keynes, John Harvey Kellogg, Winston Churchill, Linus Pauling, and Sidney Webb. Its most infamous proponent and practitioner was however Adolf Hitler who praised and incorporated eugenic ideas in Mein Kampf, and emulated them in the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring passed in July 1933.

Criticism and controversy

Eugenics has been criticized for being a pseudoscience, for its use in justifying racist and classist policies, and for its role in the genocide of millions during the Holocaust. The eugenics movement has also been criticized for being a means of social control, and for its focus on "negative" eugenics.

Modern eugenics, genetic engineering, and ethical re-evaluation

In the decades following World War II, with the institution of human rights, many countries gradually began to abandon eugenics policies, although some Western countries, among them the United States and Sweden, continued to carry out forced sterilizations.

See also

• Genetic engineering
• Human genetics
• Social Darwinism
• Bioethics
• Genetic discrimination
• Genetic determinism

References

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