Eugenics Pros And Cons

Eugenics essentially began as a good thing. Early genicists had the intention of improving the quality of the human population by selecting desired traits. Because of the limited knowledge available in the early nineteen-hundreds this approach to changing the gene pool seemed reasonable. The researchers believe that by controlling human “reproductive” conditions like mental retardation psychiatric illness and physical illness / disabilities could be destroyed. The scientific data to prove these statements would never surface.

Lack of scientific knowledge about genetic biology was the primary reason why eugenics movement died out towards the latter half of the 20th century. It was concluded that there was actually no significant way to identify “fit” families. The eugenics movement unjustly called people unfit without reason. The primary downside to the eugenics movement in the United States is that scientist paid too much attention to the genetic correlations between class and genes, but rarely looked at the environmental factors that affected the class. Essentially what the eugenics movement did was called families that were alcoholics and thieves due to your genes. An argument could have been very easily made that these families were

Eugenics is the pseudoscience of obtaining desired traits in a population through controlled repopulation, specifically by preventing those deemed “unfit” by “Nordic stereotypes” from breeding. Most modern day Americans do not realize the origins of eugenics, which was planted by Charles Darwin and Sir Francis Galton and bloomed in America, and what effect it had on the attempt to create a master race in Nazi Germany. America played a very influential role in German eugenics by collaboration between scientists and funding from American corporations. The negative connotation associated with this science is usually directed towards the scientists of the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler, and not towards American scientists who also partook in horrific experiments and performed inhumane acts as well. This is absurd when you consider that the United States was the backbone of the eugenics movement internationally and only developed a negative perspective of the research when it became affiliated with the holocaust and the troubling actions of Nazi Germany.

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.

Just think about a human race free of genetic disease where everyone is intelligent and where society and technology advance at staggering rates. This is the future that is envisioned by those who advocate eugenics. Eugenics is the study of methods to improve the human race by selection of parents based on their inherited characteristics (Hartl). The idea was first discussed by Sir Francis Galton in the 1880’s, but was widely unaccepted by people at first due to fear that it would take away their basic human rights and be misused (Hartl). In the early 20th century, eugenics was a very popular and widespread idea in the United States and there were laws created to encourage certain people to have children, while discouraging others from procreating (Morris 66). The main reason eugenics has fell into such disfavor is because the Nazis cited it as the reason for the Holocaust (Morris 66). The use of eugenics by the Nazis can be compared to the use Islam by ISIS, or the use of Christianity by the Westboro Baptist Church. It is a concept that can be misused based on interpretation and extremism. Eugenics itself is just an idea to improve the human race by selective breeding, not by killing millions. Forms of eugenics should be implemented in society because they eliminate genetic diseases and problems, spread favorable traits and attributes, create a more intelligent and less flawed society, and help advance the human race as a whole.

Biological laws show that Nordics deteriorate when mixed with other races.” That means that by using eugenics to create a “perfect human raze” (tall, white, blond, and blue eyed people, smart and superior physically and morally), the world will be inducing that the ones that are not in that specific group are less worth than the ones whose genes and DNA has been scientifically modified. Even though some people in favor in Eugenics claim that by modifying the DNA, scientists and doctors would be able to prevent all kinds of syndromes and illness in newborn babies which will mean that there is going to be less people with mental health issues and illness, but according to Gregory W. Rutecki in Forced Sterilization of Native Americans: Late Twentieth Century Physician Cooperation with National Eugenic Policies,

Families across the country rushed to be tested and deemed genetically fit, or otherwise. While all this was going on, eugenics fans blazed across the country toting such propaganda as "Some Americans are born to be a burden on the rest" (Carlson 4), while claiming that it is the duty of the superior to ensure that the "feebleminded" did not over-run them. The hype among the higher upper class was to prove yourself worthy of being especially genetically adept, no matter what background you hailed from (the hypocrisy of this is terrible). Only when eugenicists began to actively sterilize patients did an opposite reaction to eugenics present itself.

There is much bias and confusion surrounding the topic of eugenics. Many times the reason for this is the lack of understanding of what the term means, where it states “In 1883, Sir Francis Galton, a respected British scholar, and cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term eugenics, meaning ‘well-born.’ (Genetics Generation, 2015).” This term has evolved to encompass more than just “well-born” as can be seen in the encyclopedia. “The eleventh edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica defines eugenics as ‘the organic betterment of the race through wise application of the laws of heredity.’ (Court, 2004).” The meaning of the word eugenics, due to the way it has been used, confuses many people.

The US News ranked Yale #3 in the best National University in 2015. Yale’s historian Daniel Kevles offered a “tutorial on the Eugenics movement” and wanted to admonish its presence in the 20th century. He makes a connection to the Eugenics movement and the dawning of the “designer baby” and says “today, the driving force for human-genetic modification will be consumer demand, and with the biotech industry serving as “a new player in this game””. It's been said that ¨This will ultimately result in segregation between the superior ´modified´ humans, and the pure but inferior ones. Sooner or later,this situation will get ugly¨. The look on races, eye color and hair color will reverse from just traits to a more primitive ideas as used in Nazi Germany. There is no way to tell how this technology being available would change our society, with Hitler ¨life was cheap if you did not conform to the Aryan race

Jack Hanson is an assistant professor of mathematics with a PhD in Physics at the City College of New York. He explains that eugenics could prevent generations of family members from getting hereditary diseases and undesirable characteristics as well as allowing them to live successfully in society. Some drawbacks he proposes is the right of the baby because it has no option, and the potential loss of individuality because most people would want their children to have a select few desirable traits. This article will be useful in explaining the positive and negative effects of eugenic

The birth of a child is supposed to be a time of joy, the uncertainty of life leads to this one point in time. Will she or he be the next president, a star athlete, a genius or just fall into the crowd as another citizen. With recent advancements in science, this uncertainty has become a thing of the past. The human being is now seen as a commodity and no more is valued in the uncertainty of individuality. The parent can now choose how they want their child to come out or develop into. Sandel’s book The Case Against Perfection: Ethics in the Case of Modern Eugenics is a well researched look into examples of modern eugenics and the problems that arise from it. These topics range from the ethics of cloning, athletes using performance enhancing drugs, and other practical uses in everyday life. Sandel’s argument is that there is value in human nature (even with all its flaws), and genetic engineering will forever change human nature. Destroying the very essence of what it is to be human and scarring humanity. The main features of human nature that will be altered: are responsibility, humility and solidarity.

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

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

As William Penn says in his book, Some Fruits of Solitude, in Reflections and Maxims Relating to the Conduct of Human Life, "Men are generally more careful of the breed of their horses and dogs than of their children." This statement is true, to a point. While eugenical artificial selection could in fact ‘breed’ an ideal human being, as is done with horses and dogs, there is a level of eugenics that has gone too far. During WWII, Adolf Hitler took the stance of eugenics as an innovative idea that was for the greater good. However, his proposal of eugenics was eliminating all other choices of humans other than his ideal image – the Aryan race. The murder of over 11 million people can hardly be compared with propagation, but they both derive