Category: hereditary courts

Carrel: eugenics asks for the sacrifice of many individuals.

Filed under 1939, applied biology, aristocratic, Biological Laws, birth defects, birth rate, civilization, compulsory marriage, conscious selection, defectives, degeneration, democracy, dysgenic breeding, education, eugenics, feeble-minded, feebleminded, Fit and Unfit, Genetics, hereditary courts, human breeding, IQ, laws of heredity, Laws of Nature, lunacy, man as animal, marriage, mental defectives, miscegenation, national degeneration, national stock, Natural selection, planned evolution, population control, positive eugenics, poverty, psychiatry, rational selection, society, Soviet Union, unfit, Year

Alexis Carrel, Nobel Prize Winner. Man the Unknown, 1939. [Source] A choice must be made among the multitude of civilized human beings. We have mentioned that natural selection has not played its part for a long while. That many inferior individuals have been conserved through the efforts of hygiene and medicine. But we cannot prevent …

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Foster Kennedy: Euthanasia for “Nature’s Mistakes” up to the age of 5

Filed under 1941, Action T4 Program, adaptation, After-birth abortion, American Eugenics, American Psychiatric Association, applied biology, birth defects, breeders, breeding horses or cattle, Charity, civilization, compulsory sterilization, compulsory vaccination, conscious selection, death as creative, defectives, democracy, dysgenic breeding, eugenics, euthanasia, Evolution, feebleminded, Fit and Unfit, Foster Kennedy, genetic counseling, German Eugenics, hereditary courts, human breeding, humanitarianism, infanticide, IQ, medical killing, mental defectives, national degeneration, national stock, Oliver Wendell Holmes, sentimentalism, social body, social organism, Spartans, sterilization, suffering, The God Committee, unfit, useless eaters, vaccination, Year

Kennedy’s address at the 97th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in 1941 encapsulates well how the acceptance of evolution and utilitarian thinking are tied into arguments for eugenics (and euthanasia), which is ironic, of course, since many advocates for euthanasia deny such connections and modern proponents of evolution become apoplectic at the insinuation …

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Helen Keller: Physicians Juries for Defective Babies, Article in the New Republic, 1915

Filed under 1915, Action T4 Program, After-birth abortion, American Eugenics, birth defects, compulsory sterilization, criminals, defectives, euthanasia, German Eugenics, Harry J. Haiselden, Helen Keller, hereditary courts, human weeds, idiots, infanticide, life unworthy of life, medical genetics, medical killing, mental defectives, Nazis, Neonatal Euthanasia, Oops!, Parasitism, sanctity of life, sentimentalism, useless eaters

Due to the successful sanitization of the past in regards to eugenics, it is largely unknown how pervasive eugenics attitudes were, and how expansive eugenicists believed their program to be. Here we have Helen Keller, writing in a prominent liberal magazine, advocating explicitly for infanticide–in the name of the race. For more information and the …

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The Eugenic Roots of Genetic Counseling

Filed under 1914, 1915, 1916, 1949, 1952, 1954, 1968, 1972, abortion, After-birth abortion, American Eugenics, applied biology, ASHG, birth control, birth defects, compulsory sterilization, Contraception, defectives, degeneration, Down Syndrome, dysgenic breeding, dysgenics, education, Elaine Freeman, eugenics, euthanasia, euthenics, every child a wanted child, Evolution, family planning, feeble-minded, feebleminded, Fit and Unfit, Frederick Osborn, genetic counseling, genetic load, Genetics, Germany, H.J. Muller, Harrison Brown, Harry J. Haiselden, Helen Keller, hereditary courts, hereditary cripples, heredity clinic, Holocaust, human weeds, laws of heredity, Laws of Nature, Lee R. Dice, Madison Grant, medical genetics, medical killing, meningomyelocele, mental defectives, mongolism, morality, Natural selection, Nazis, New York Times, planned evolution, quote collections, race, rational selection, sanctity of life, science, sentimentalism, social body, spina bifida, sterilization, The God Committee, The Passing of the Great Race, Year

Charity requires us to believe that most contemporary genetic counselors are not at all motivated by considerations that we would term ‘eugenic.’ However, the founders of the field left no doubt about their motivations, stating them plainly and explicitly, and characterizing them as definitely constituting eugenics. The following material raises more than reasonable doubt that …

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The Obstacle of Sentiment and Sentimentalists to Pure Scientific Application

Filed under 1879, 1900, 1911, 1913, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1922, 1930, Alexander Tille, altruism, American Eugenics, birth control, birth defects, breeders, Charity, compulsory sterilization, concentration camps, Darwinism, defectives, dysgenic breeding, E. W. MacBride, education, England, equal rights, eugenics, euthanasia, Evolution, family planning, feeble-minded, Fit and Unfit, Harry J. Haiselden, Helen Keller, hereditary courts, Hermann Klaatch, humanitarianism, idiots, imbecile, imbeciles, infanticide, laws of heredity, Laws of Nature, legislative eugenics, lethal chamber, life unworthy of life, Madison Grant, man as animal, marriage, Melting Pot, mental defectives, National Socialists, philanthropy, Progressives, public school, quote collections, race, race betterment, rational selection, Richard Weikart, right to reproduce, sanctity of life, scientific world view, segregation, segregation camps, sentimentalism, Spartans, sterilization, The Passing of the Great Race, Theodore Roosevelt, W. Duncan McKim, Wisconsin, Year

One of the common themes that surfaces in eugenic writings is their annoyance that others do not act on the logical implications of Science. Note that, in the main, they are not taking issue with people who do not agree with their conclusions, but rather those who do agree–but will not act on them. This …

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Category: hereditary courts

Carrel: eugenics asks for the sacrifice of many individuals.

Helen Keller: Physicians Juries for Defective Babies, Article in the New Republic, 1915

The Obstacle of Sentiment and Sentimentalists to Pure Scientific Application

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Category: hereditary courts

Carrel: eugenics asks for the sacrifice of many individuals.

Foster Kennedy: Euthanasia for “Nature’s Mistakes” up to the age of 5

Helen Keller: Physicians Juries for Defective Babies, Article in the New Republic, 1915

The Eugenic Roots of Genetic Counseling

The Obstacle of Sentiment and Sentimentalists to Pure Scientific Application

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