Friday, May 31, 2019
Was Eugenics Ever Moral? Essay -- human species, charles darwin
Eugenics is the study or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species. Sounds good, right? But the question here is, is it moral to sacrifice someones animation or the ability for someone to create life in the name of science? Surely Francis Galton and Gregor Mendel thought so.In the nineteenth century, biology was at its peak. Charles Darwin, who simply happens to be Galtons cousin, had just introduced his idea of survival of the fittest. Galton then took that thesis and dissected it. The result of that mess was what we know today as eugenics. The initial intent was for genetically perfect people to reproduce with others of the same kind. It was believed that mixing the inferior people and the so called perfect beings would yield a corruption of blood(Lombardo,8).It was non until the Civil War ended when America started exploring this new world of genetics. People came up with the belief that genetics appeared to be the cause behind human brotherl y problems - such as pauperism, nomadism, criminality,alcoholism, feeble-mindedness, rebelliousness and prostitution - as the inheritance of defective germ plasm (Allen,4). As bizarre as this sounds, eugenicists and their wealthy followers swore by this. With this idea in mind, doctors in prison and mental institutions started sterilizing the inmates and patients. Their reasoning for doing this was that it was better to sterilize these genetically impaired people and let them go knowing in that respect wont be any other generations of that same problem than to keep them locked up under taxpayers dollar.How could this have been moral? Even Galton, the man who formally named this branch of science called this negative eugenics. These men and women were sterilized... ...t still isnt, and it never will be. Works CitedAllen, Garland E. Social Origins of Eugenics. Essay 1Social Origins. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. bourgeon v. Bell. LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.Doctors Trial The Medical Case of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 10 June 2013. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.EugenicsArchive.Org Image Archive on American Eugenics Movement. EugenicsArchive.Org Image Archive on American Eugenics Movement. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.First Amendment. LII / Legal Information Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014.Lombardo, Paul. Three Generations, No Imbeciles. Baltimore JHU, 2008. Print.Meikos, David. Eugenics Research Methods. Essay 3 Research Methods. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
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