Category: Year

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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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, …

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Eugenics Quote of the Day: Not likely there will be an Eugenic Inquisition

Herbert E Walter in an essay called “Human Conservation” found on page 483 of Readings in Evolution, compiled by Horatio Hackett Newman.  First published in 1921. One needs only to recall the days of the Spanish Inquisition or of the Salem witchcraft persecution to realize what fearful blunders human judgment is capable of, but it …

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“The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda” by Margaret Sanger

Copied from [Source] Margaret Sanger, “The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda,” Oct 1921. Published Article. Source: The Birth Control Review, Oct. 1921, 5 , Margaret Sanger MicrofilmS70:913 . For related documents, see Chapter VIII of “The Pivot of Civilization,” 1922. An editorial introduction mentions the timeliness of this article in light of the recently …

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Life Unworthy of Life Yesterday and Today, Science, Secularism, and the Sanctity of Life

This foreword is reprinted with permission of the author and may not be copied and re-posted.  The foreword originally appears in the translation of Karl Binding and Alfred Hoche’s Allowing the Destruction of Life Unworthy of Life lifeunworthyoflife.com | Buy on Amazon | Kindle Life Unworthy of Life Yesterday and Today, Science, Secularism, and the …

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Are imbeciles, the feeble-minded, criminals, humans? This Eugenicist says NO

One of the clear implications of the eugenicist mindset was that there were certain humans who were not really humans.  It was not common to hear this directly put, although in many cases they come very close.  It is important to realize that they did not think they were being prejudicial, but rather, scientific.  After …

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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 …

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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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