Frederick Osborn, president of the Population Council and steadfast advocate for eugenics, in a 1956 speech recorded in the Eugenics Review. [SOURCE] […] Galton never envisaged any system of arbitrary controls, except for the more serious mental and physical handicaps, which should be treated like a form of communicable disease. But he did propose that …
Category: Natural selection
Leon Cole on the Social Body and Our Duty to Future Generations
From The Relation of Philanthropy and Medicine to Race Betterment by Leon J. Cole, University of Wisconsin, at the First Conference for Race Betterment (1914) Among those who have in their treatment of this subject emphasized the importance of the natural selection viewpoint may be mentioned especially Herbert Spencer, Francis Galton, and Karl Pearson, the …
George William Hunter’s “Civic Biology” — the Eugenics Textbook at the Heart of the ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’
The so-called ‘Scopes Monkey Trial’ was a media sensation at the time, but how it actually went down was shamelessly skewed afterwards to make it seem that the evolutionists were humble seekers of truth and those who stood against them ignorant, religious bigots. This viewpoint was perpetuated effectively through movies on the trial such as …
Eugenics and Family Planning Associated Together from the Beginning, Family Planning and Population Control Likewise
One of the ‘pioneers’ of ‘family planning,’ Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was also an avowed eugenicist and advocate for population control. That is, like many advocates of ‘family planning,’ out of one side of their mouth they talk about a “woman’s right to choose” while on the other side they say, “but …
Letter by Theodore Roosevelt to Charles Davenport: Society should not permit degenerates to reproduce their kind.
From The Outlook, January 3rd letter of 1913 [Source] My dear Mr. Davenport: I am greatly interested in the two memoirs you have sent me. They are very instructive, and, from the standpoint of our country, very ominous. You say that those people are not themselves responsible, that it is “society” that is responsible. I …
Man is an Animal: Charles Galton Darwin in The Next Million Years
Charles Galton Darwin, in his book, The Next Million Years: From the Epilogue Anyone who disagrees with my forecast must try to get beyond a vague optimism, which merely expresses the confidence that “something will turn up.” In particular he must find a really solid reason which shows how the threat of over-population will be …
The Eugenic Roots of Genetic Counseling
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 …
Eugenics is Darwinism and Evolution Applied
In the essay on the definition of eugenics hosted on this site, it is shown that eugenics was merely seen as Darwinism intelligently applied to the human race. On this page, further corroboration of this will be provided in the words of the eugenicists themselves. Emphasis is added. —————————– R.Z. Mason, mayor of Appleton, WI, …
Eugenicists Shared in Common with the Nazis Concepts of the “Social Body.”
One of the under-appreciated elements of what animated the eugenics mindset was the view that each species could very well be conceived of as a ‘body’ of sort. A different level of moral calculation could be applied to the ‘social organism’ or ‘social body’ then the individual. This is no mere invoking of the ‘common …
American and British Eugenicists Agree: Life Unworthy of Life
The phrase ‘life unworthy of life‘ is known particularly because of the fact that the Nazis used it when eliminating ‘defectives’ in their Action T4 project (and later, in reference to the Jews), but American and British Eugenicists also were known in terms of ‘lives unworthy of life.’ Quotes are provided below. ————- Herbert Spencer, …
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