Adolf Hitler Eugenics

Eugenics is defined, in some way or the other, as the process of reshaping the human race by determining the kinds of people who will be born. As such, there is much debate in the field of eugenics, with authors, like Philip Kitcher, who support laissez-faire or a minimalist approach of eugenics in which eugenic decision-making should be limited only to avoid neurological illnesses and in which parental free choice is valued. Gregory Stock’s essay, The Enhanced and Un-Enhanced, presents otherwise by supporting the position of maximalist eugenics, allowing individuals the full extent in the selection of genes. On the other hand, the film, Gattaca, raises major ethical problems by illustrating a dystopian society resulted by extensive

We have all heard of concentration camps, but we think about the Germans and the Jew. We usually never think of the Native Americans as being part of any type of concentration camps. But unfortunately they were. Back when the Germans started construction on their own camps in 1933 they based some ideas of them on some of the United States Civil War camps, the ending resolution was based on American Eugenics programs that were already working in the United States. You can obviously see there have been camps in the country for nearly 170 years. Even back before the Civil War we did the same exact thing to Native American Indians. One of the first "Happy Camps" was called Oklahoma.

Hansen and king go over several reason why eugenics became popular in the United States but not in the United Kingdom. Supporter of eugenics in England were mostly focused on people with mental illness and mental disorders. Though there were many supporters of eugenics, the idea did not catch on. One of the reasons being the European connection with the Nazis and their system of eugenics on people with mental illness in addition to people of other races and religions.

Eugenics is the social construction of the human race by controlling reproduction. “Reducing the number of unfit people the term refers to the effort to improve a human population by either encouraging the reproduction of desired traits or preventing the reproduction of undesirable one” (Bethel University). The eugenics movement in America support laws that enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage, family planning, sterilization of the poor, disabled and education about human reproduction. They are in favor of reproduction among those thought to be the most genetically fit with characteristics such as hardworking, intelligent and physically fit. On the other had the movement discourage reproduction of the unfit considered to have

Eugenics began in the United States in the 20th century. Sir Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin introduced Eugenics to the world. He first used the word in the late 1800s. The term Eugenics comes from the greek roots for good and origin or good birth (Bouche 1). In America the social movement was led by Charles Davenport in the 1900’s. Eugenics was the social movement where people believed that by selective breeding and sterilization only good traits could be passed down to children. It was believed that by using these methods genetic features would greatly improve. That all undesirable traits would be gone and everyone would be “perfect”. Eugenics was used as a scientific way to get rid of social problems

Most of the issues involved with wrongful conception cases have been adjudicated through the state courts from the 1960s to the present. Almost always they have ruled that parents cannot collect damages for the birth of a normal, healthy child, even as the result of medical malpractice through defective sterilization and contraception procedures or failure to carry out correct genetic testing or fully inform parents of the results. Nor have the courts ruled that the birth of a handicapped child is a life unworthy of living, and instead have argued for judicial restraint in making such legal and moral determinations. Even in the case of the severely handicapped, such as children with Down syndrome, American courts have not ruled that nonexistence would be preferable to living a limited life. On the other hand, the U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that parents can collect personal injury damages as the result the birth of an impaired or unplanned child, at least in the recovery of medical costs if not all the expenses of rearing the child to adulthood. State courts also allow the recovery of damages for medical expenses, training and treatment for handicapped children born as the result of failed abortion, contraception or sterilization. Due to the Roe v. Wade case of 1973, parents have the right to determine whether a child will be born or not, although recent efforts in

Throughout history, people have consistently tried to prove that groups with inborn qualities can either vastly improve or degenerate different races over time. This rhetoric has been proven multiple times throughout the course of the last century in the United States and Nazi-reigned Germany. Supposedly, this rhetoric has been disproven throughout the United States; however, there are proven accounts that the United States government has recently supported this theory of sterilization of minorities by supporting the eugenics movement, which was not only in Nazi Germany, but also on United States soil. The topic of improving the genetic makeup of different races has not only just become a common theme for many modern day countries to use to make their societies more genetically fit. However, it has adopted the basis for current racism that is clearly apparent in today’s society. If improving genetic fitness was not a concern to past societies, then people in general would be a lot more open to interracial and cross-cultural relationships rather than completely disregarding the idea of dating someone that is visibly genetically different.

These fears spread to the general population due to the efforts of aristocrats and scientists who developed theories of eugenics and scientific racism (Brodkin, 1994). The key players in these efforts were Madison Grant and his book Passing of the Great Race. In his book, Grant discussed his discovery that were three or four European races ranging from the superior Nordics of northwestern Europe to the inferior southern and eastern races of Alpines, Mediterraneans, and Jews. In Grant’s eyes, the upper class was pure Nordic while the lowers classes came from the lower races (Brodkin,

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

Sharing the same principle, Nazi eugenicists also focus in investigating heritable traits. Galton argued that mental abilities are heritable, and people have the responsibility to maintain these “natural gifts.” He claimed that the failure of Athenian women to reproduce resulted for the Greek civilization, which he considered as the “ablest” race, to disappeared. This then suggests that maintaining desirable heritable traits is necessary for the improvement of human races population. With hereditary traits as center of eugenics, eugenicists started to investigate the role of hereditary in different diseases and characteristics. For instance, Karl Pearson investigated the influence of hereditary in intelligence, mental illness, alcoholism

Eugenics has always been given such a notoriously bad connotation, and rightfully so. Eugenics is essentially the belief in controlling the human population by means of improving the gene pool through different processes, and increasing the likelihood of traits which are generally more desirable to the whole of the species. Now that probably sounds familiar, doesn 't it? People commonly connect the eugenics movement with the Aryan belief that Hitler infamously believed in. In fact, Hitler wrote a letter to one of the eugenics movements leadings proprietors, Madison Grant, praising his writing of his book “The Passing of the Great Race” calling it “his bible”. In Hitler’s famous autobiography

The term “eugenics” derived from Greek with the prefix eu- for “good” and the suffix

The theory of Eugenics can be dated back all the way to 400 B.C. but was not popularized until the mid-1800s by an English scientist, Francis Galton. He researched and published the theory that aimed to improve the genetic quality of the human population through selective breeding (NC Office of Archives and History). As the half-cousin of Charles Darwin, Galton applied the Darwinism science (survival of the fittest) to heredity characteristics. Two types of Eugenics stemmed from the theory, positive and negative. Positive eugenics is encouraging the “best” people in the society based on financial and personal features to have more children while negative eugenics is picking people with flaws and defects from the population

Eugenics is defined as the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics (Merriam-Webster). The extensive and shadowed history of authoritative and liberal eugenics practices dates back to 1883 when eugenecist Francis Galton began publicly advocating for the castration of the insane. Eugenics practices occurred around the world for more than a century and are still part of scientific progress and discussion today. From the T4 programs of Nazi Germany to the Human Genome Project and the mapping of the entire fetal genetic makeup, eugenics and selective breeding have played a major part in the history and social makeup of the world.

The word eugenics was first derived from the Greek word “eugenes” which means well-born. The goal of eugenics is to create and breed the utmost superior person through selection while picking out the good traits and eliminating the bad ones. Eugenics is the study of using methods to improve genetics by selective breeding (Eugenics, 2009). This came about because of the thought of being able to tell the difference between inferior and superior human beings. In 1883 the word eugenics was first used to talk about the science of heredity and good breeding. The scientist Gregor Mendel had cross-breeded pea plants and found patterns that were relative to humans such as color and height. After the knowledge of this study came to be, other scientists began to use the word eugenics. Because of Mendel’s study the concept of genes became introduced. Charles Davenport, a widely respected scientist, was first to say that certain characteristics were superior to others such as intelligence, cleanliness, hard work and many more. Davenport founded the Eugenics Record Office in 1910 (Eugenics, 2009). According to a publication, the goal of eugenics was to improve the natural, physical, mental and temperamental qualities of the human family (Eugenics, 2009). After these studies, eugenics researchers believed that if mating was controlled, conditions such as psychiatric illness, physical disabilities and mental retardation could be eliminated.