Eugenics

Eugenics is a social philosophy which advocates the improvement of human hereditary traits through social intervention. The goals have variously been to create more intelligent people, save society resources, lessen human suffering and reduce health problems. Proposed means of achieving these goals most commonly include birth control, selective breeding, and genetic engineering. Critics argue eugenics has been applied as a pseudoscience, that it has a potential for objectifiying human characteristics and note that historically it has been a means whereby social thinking culminated in coercive state-sponsored discrimination and human rights violations, even genocide.

What is eugenics?

Definitions of the term vary. The term eugenics is often used to refer to a movement and social policy that was influential during the first half of the 20th century. In a historical and broader sense eugenics can also be a study of "improving human genetic qualities". It is sometimes more broadly applied to describe any human action whose goal is to improve the gene pool. Some forms of infanticide in ancient societies, present-day reprogenetics, pre-emptive abortions and designer babies have been (sometimes controversially) referred to as eugenics.

Related Topics:
Gene pool - Infanticide - Reprogenetics - Designer babies

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Because of its normative goals and association with scientific racism, as well as the development of the science of genetics, the scientific community has for the most part disassociated itself from the term "eugenics", sometimes referring to it as a pseudo-science, although one can still find advocates of liberal eugenics as a social policy, though not in appreciable numbers. Modern inquiries into the potential use of genetic engineering have led to an increased invocation of the history of eugenics in discussions of bioethics, most often as a cautionary tale, while some ethicists question whether even non-coercive eugenics programs would be inherently unethical.

Related Topics:
Normative - Scientific racism - Genetics - Liberal eugenics - Ethicists

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Eugenicists advocate specific policies which would lead to a perceived improvement of the human gene pool. Since defining what improvements are desired or beneficial is ultimately a cultural choice rather than a matter of empirical, scientific observation, eugenics has been deemed pseudo-science by many. The most disputed aspect of eugenics has been the definition of improvement of the human gene pool, such as what is a beneficial characteristic and what is a defect. Unsurprisingly, this aspect of eugenics has historically been tainted with scientific racism.

Related Topics:
Cultural - Pseudo-science - Scientific racism

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Early eugenicists were mostly concerned with perceived intelligence factors which often correlated strongly with social class. Many eugenicists took inspiration from the selective breeding of animals (where purebreeds are often strived for) as their analogy for improving human society. The mixing of races (or miscegenation) was usually considered as something to be avoided in the name of racial purity, a concept which at the time appeared to have some scientific support but remained a contentious issue until the advanced development of genetics.

Related Topics:
Intelligence - Social class - Selective breeding - Purebreed - Miscegenation - Racial purity - Genetics

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Eugenics has also been concerned with the elimination of hereditary diseases such as haemophilia and Huntington's disease. However, there are several problems with labeling certain factors as "genetic defects":

Related Topics:
Hereditary diseases - Haemophilia - Huntington's disease

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• There is no scientific consensus on what is a "defect" and what is not—it is more of a matter of social or individual choice.
• What appears to be a defect in one context may not be so in another. This is often the case for genes with a heterozygote advantage, such as sickle cell anemia or Tay-Sachs disease, who in their heterozygote form may offer an advantage against, respectively, malaria and tuberculosis.
• Many people can succeed in life with disabilities.
• Many of the conditions early eugenicists identified as hereditable (pellagra is one such example) are currently considered to be wholly or at least partially attributed to environmental conditions.

Similar concerns are raised when prenatal diagnosis of congenital disorder leads to abortion (see also preimplantation genetic diagnosis).

Related Topics:
Prenatal diagnosis - Congenital disorder - Abortion - Preimplantation genetic diagnosis

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Eugenic policies have been historically divided into two categories: positive eugenics, which encourage a designated "most fit" to reproduce more often, and negative eugenics, which discourage or prevent a designated "less fit" from reproducing. Negative eugenics need not always be coercive. A state might offer financial rewards to certain people who submit to sterilization, although some critics might reply that this incentive along with social pressure could be perceived as coercion. Positive eugenics can also be coercive. Abortion by "fit" women was illegal in Nazi Germany.

Related Topics:
Abortion - Fit - Nazi Germany

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During the twentieth century, many countries enacted various eugenics policies and programs, including:

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• Promoting differential birth rates
• Compulsory sterilization
• Marriage restrictions
• Genetic screening
• Birth control
• Immigration control
• Segregation
• Extermination

Most of these policies were later regarded as coercive, restrictive, or genocidal, and now few jurisdictions implement policies that could be considered, or are explicitly labeled as, eugenic. However, some private organizations assist people in genetic counseling and reprogenetics may be considered as a form of non state-enforced, "liberal" eugenics.

Related Topics:
Genetic counseling - Reprogenetics

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