Eugenics

Eugenics refers to a variety of beliefs and practices seeking to improve the genetic quality of a human population.

Heavily criticized, its advocacy is typically based on junk science that overstates the role of hereditary traits in personal development and overlooks environmental and social factors, frequently to excuse classism and scientific racism.

Many precursors to the modern transhumanist movement come from eugenics, including the origin of the word "transhumanism" itself. A common criticism of transhumanism is the observation that many advocated positions, whether directed by authorities or by the combined effect of prejudice on individual choices, may constitute de facto eugenics.

Practices

Techniques can typically be divided into positive eugenics, which encourage reproduction among those with desirable traits, and negative eugenics, which discourage those deemed "unfit" or undesirable.

Positive Eugenics

Positive eugenics

Negative Eugenics

Negative eugenics

Liberal and New Eugenics

Liberal eugenics, coined by Nicholas Agar, attempts to address the issues of eugenic coercion, arguing from a position based on individual procreative freedom and parental choice, with state intervention only to prohibit choices deemed injurious to the child.

History and Implementations

Ancient History

Very early philosophical precursors may be found in Plato's Republic c. 400 BCE, suggesting applying selective breeding practices. Early Roman law mandated the infanticide of deformed children.

Spread to North America and popular adoption

The "Kallikak" family

In 1912, the movement was further advanced by the publication of The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of Feeble-Mindedness by Henry H. Goddard and its subsequent popularity. The book portrays a falsified history of a family divided into "good" and "bad" branches to demonstrate the heredity of "feeble-mindedness."

In truth, the families were unrelated, and many of the portrayed deficiencies of the "bad" branch of the family were fabricated or heavily embellished, while non-hereditary factors such as nutrional deficiencies and fetal alcohol syndrome were ignored.

Modern occurences

United States

California

Between 1997 and 2010, coercive sterilization was carried out on at least 148 female inmates in California prisons deemed to be at risk of reincarceration.

See also

• Gattaca

External Links

• Eugenics on Wikipedia
• "Babies by design: The ethics of genetic choice" - 2008 book by Ronald Green