Barbarian Virtues Paper

1 I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the lower animals (so-called), and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals, since it now seems plain to me that that theory ought to be vacated in favor of a new and truer one, this new and truer one to be named the Descent of Man from the Higher

Self-proclaimed Darwinist Lewis Morgan contended during the period of colonisation that there were three periods of civilisation; the Savage, Barbaric and the Civilised, the savage was characterised by simply existence and living off the land whereas the civilised used phonic alphabet systems, ownership of property and some sort of established state system (Morgan, 1877).

Future eugenicists can extort their knowledge and use it to their advantage. Eugenics is an interesting subject that is co-dependent on society; the future holds great possibilities for acknowledgment in this field of science.

Throughout history, the field of eugenics, a termed coined by Francis Galton in 1883, is believed to have played a significant role in improving the genetic quality of the human populace in the context of World War I through the set of beliefs and practices. Eugenics is the experiment of giving the more suitable and more desirable races “a better chance of prevailing” speedily over the less desirable (3). Eugenics employed theory in World War I as well as the aftermath of the war. After ww1 germany sought help from whatever they could find a...Many individuals believed that by having a stronger population they would be better prepared for war. Better breeding involved using the known scientific principles of heredity, which in turn explains why the field of eugenics was appealing simply by determining the physical, physiological, and mental traits rationally employed to improve social problems. The weaker individuals are unfavorable to the general

Although Charles Darwin is usually just looked at in the light of purely biology, his work that impacted other fields such as psychology or his work that lead to the rapid expansion of certain fields such as ethology, is often looked over. Darwin’s work impacted these fields both directly and indirectly at such a level of influence that some people believe that psychology should be looked at as pre- and post-Darwin. On the Origin of Species, while being primarily about biological phenomena and theories, was one of these works that impacted psychology indirectly. Other than giving a new perspective for psychologists to possess when contemplating different ideas, Darwin’s work on natural selection lead to the creation of evolutionary psychology.

Paul Shepard’s “Getting a Genome”, “How We Once Lived”, and “How the Mind Once Lived” in Coming Home to the Pleistocene discusses humankind’s evolutionary history and how we lived before history. “Getting a Genome” explains the key evolutionary developments of pre-humans, which included bipedality, sexual dimorphism, and speech. In relation to nature, this chapter argues that early humans did not slaughter large mammal species and push them into extinction (32). Hunting large mammals into extinction would be both a waste of time and energy, which was valuable to early humans. “How We Once Lived” describes human development and how it would have occurred in the past. The chapter also discusses the ambiguity of our genetic requirements and how

Eugenics is very controversial. It is important to be informed on the subject to avoid making rash and hasty decisions on whether or not it is right or wrong. It is up to each individual to gain the knowledge necessary to determine the moral correctness or incorrectness of any topic. Often decisions are made without information to back them up. You must understand the term before understanding the action. In this way, we must understand eugenics in a general sense and in detail. We must start with defining the term eugenics.

Eugenics is an seemingly skeptical endeavor to promote health and a homogeneous mankind, in terms of physical and mental capabilities and outlooks.While its retrospects were previously based on defective proposed theoretical beliefs, its successful breakthrough futuristically can eventually be accomplished scientifically through the mobilization of biotechnology, specifically in terms of genetic modification of the human systems. Yet, genome engineering with no doubt, impairs biological diversity.

The evolutionist Taylor argues on the definition of culture, "Culture or civilization, taken in its wide ethnographic sense, is the complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, moral, laws, costume, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a number of society" (Tylor 2013, 28). Here he expresses the idea that a Society must follow a given pattern in order to qualify as civilized. Morgan view follows the same motion as Taylor. "Mankind commence their career at the bottom of the scale and work the way up from savagery to civilization" (Morgan 2013, 40). Classifying society's under Ethical periods Savagery, Barbarism and Civilized based on their development. Each period containing their own sub-division based on their particular way of life and progress. Finally, the view of Spencer, that expresses the same line of thought as Morgan. "They proved from the general to the special..." (Spencer 2013, 52). In the other hand, Boas believes that even if some culture presents some similarities it will not necessarily determine that every development will follow the same progress. "Parallelism seems to exist on the two continent, it would be futile to try to follow out the order in detail" (Boas 2013, 109). This is due to the fact that progress can be defined by the unique history of the

Eugenics is the name given by Francis Galton to a theory for improving humanity through "judicious matings... to give the more suitable races or strains of blood a better chance of prevailing speedily over the less suitable". However, this process for bettering society through biological improvement is an indirect method. Through advanced technology, the step of selective breeding could possibly be bypassed. With these technologies it may be possible to directly and

The definition of eugenics is to breed out undesirable traits. Based off of Austrian scientist Gregor Mendel’s studies, eugenics is accomplished through selective breeding. Dominant traits would replace recessive traits and the law of dominance would be ineffective. Originally, the idea behind eugenics was not completely bad. Over time though, problems surrounding it have been found. Dealing with positive and negative traits, questions have been asked about what constitutes as a negative trait and who decides which traits are

The roots of eugenics can be traced back to Britain in the early 1880’s when Sir Francis Galton generated the term from the Greek word for “well-born”. He defined eugenics as the science of improving stock, whether human or animal. According to the American Eugenics Movement, today’s study of eugenics has many similarities to studies done in the early 20th century. Back then, “Eugenics was, quite literally, an effort to breed better human beings – by encouraging the reproduction of people with "good" genes and discouraging those with "bad" genes.” (www.eugenicsarchive.org) According to Merriam-Webster, the modern day definition of eugenics is, a science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of

The notion of human nature has always been historically debated. Explores, philosophers, and writers have always come to argue on what is considered to be barbarism, savagery, and civilized. These constructed categories have put a label on people who do not share the same ideas as one another. These different views of human nature have come to propel change and have come to revolutionized human history. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Michel de Montaigne, and Thomas Hobbes all differ on their ideas of human nature, but they also share common ground. For some of these men the practices of different cultures are categorized as savagery, and for others it has been viewed as noble savagery. Their ideas however have allowed society to view different perspectives of human nature. These perspectives have classified human nature as a way of life, or as an obstacle to what is consider to be the good life. Their ethnographic resources provide a glimpse to all the different cultures and their value to society and history.

To study the evolution of human behavior, we must first understand the evolutionary foundation of modern human behavior. Using the knowledge we have about human behavior while observing for patterns that are consistent with evolutionary models. Taking advantage of natural experiments that produce different combinations of variables that can allows us to obtain new approach on human behavior. This chapter will focus on various aspects of human behavior from an evolutionary viewpoint. These involve the “ecology and demography of traditional human societies, patters of human behavior that have been shaped by sexual selection, the interaction between culture and biology in the expression of language, and the emergence of behavioral disease in an

Even though the potential of evolutionary concepts in anthropology may appear to be straightforward, Dunnel says that applying them is another matter that needs some explanation. First, evolution requires three mechanisms: variation, heritability, and selection. Dunnel states, “Variation in form arises in the biological world through mutation and through sexual reproduction in higher plants and animals. This variation is transmitted in biological systems genetically. Selection then acts, through differential reproductive success, to alter the frequency of forms in subsequent generations” (Dunnel 1996: 27). In other words, variations are seen because mutations take place and are passed on to the next generation genetically. Selection then changes the frequency at which that trait is seen. To encompass human culture into this method, the process requires a second mean of character transfer because culture is not tied to an individuals’ lifetime and thus may act faster than normal genetic change would (Dunnell, 1996).