Category: 1883

Francis Galton Coins the Word ‘Eugenics’ as the Science of Better Breeding: Men, Brutes, and Plants. Quote of the Day

A little known fact is that eugenics was seen as the application of principles of heredity, in particular those principles as understood by Darwin.  In this excerpt, Francis Galton (Darwin’s cousin), coins the word eugenics and explicitly refers to it as a science.  The principles of heredity thus applied, he says, are “applicable to men, …

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Definition of Eugenics

Eugenics Defined Eugenics is “the study of, or belief in, the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits …

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