Arguments Against Eugenics

. INTRODUCTION TO EUGENICS
A. Definition of Eugenics.
a. A science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary qualities of a race or breed.
b. Ways in which eugenics can take place.
B. Support for eugenics.
a. What are the arguments for eugenics?
b. Who are some prominent figures who have supported Eugenics?
C. Arguments against eugenics.
a. What is inhumane about eugenics?
b. Deprives individuals of natural rights
c. What is genetic diversity? Why is it relevant to the discussion of eugenics?
d. Possibility of misuses of eugenics. . HISTORY OF EUGENICS
A. Where did eugenics originate?
B. Other Countries with a history of eugenics.
a. Eugenics that went on in Nazi Germany.
b. Eugenics
that took place in Japan.
C. The history of eugenics in the United States. . EUGENICS TODAY
A. Factual ways in which eugenics is seen today.
B. Theories regarding ways in which eugenics can be seen today. . MY CONCLUSIONS
. What I have come to conclude about the morality of eugenics.
.
Why I have come to this conclusion.

Many people in the United States today have no idea of what eugenics even is. Eugenics is defined as a science that deals with the improvement (as by control of human mating) of hereditary qualities of a race or breed. There has been much controversy as to whether or not eugenics is ethical. Supporters for eugenics believe that it helps the human race as a whole. Those opposed to eugenics feel that it is morally wrong and inhumane.
Throughout history, eugenics has been a very controversial movement. Its origins date back to the 1890’s. There have been many instances in which the policies of eugenics were implemented. The attempt to eradicate the Jews by Hitler’s Nazi Germany was one of these instances. There have also been many examples of eugenics throughout United States History.
Most Americans are completely unaware of the history which eugenics has had in the United States. There have been many prominent figures in the United States who supported the idea of eugenics. Although it was never implemented in the extreme way it took place in Germany, eugenics has had a great effect on many
Americans.

The idea behind eugenics is to improve the hereditary traits of the human race.
The concept of eugenics was developed by Francis Galton in 1883. Eugenics originated from the very popular Social Darwinism movement. Social Darwinism applies the ideas of natural selection, created by Charles Darwin, to society. Supporters of Social Darwinism believed that the rich and wealthy were fit to survive more than the poor and needy. Eugenics also took many of the ideas discovered by Gregor Mendel. Eugenicists used his ideas of genetic inheritance and applied them to society.
Early eugenics focused on encouraging the reproduction of healthy, well educated people. It was believed that the “good” traits in society could be encouraged through selective breeding. This way of promoting the reproduction of “better” individuals became known as positive eugenics. Positive eugenics was very popular among the elite, upper class. They believed that their reproduction would pass down desired traits and greatly benefit society.
Supporters of eugenics began to realize that the birth rates of the poor, peasant class were much higher than the birth rates of the wealthy class. This led eugenicists to turn to negative eugenics. Negative eugenics focused on discouraging the reproduction of the lower class. It was believed that by slowing down the reproduction of the inferior individuals, an ideal human race could be
created.


Black, Edwin. War against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003. Print. Information regarding US attempt to form a master race.
Largent, Mark A. Breeding Contempt: The History of Coerced Sterilization in the United States. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, 2008. Print. Uncovers forced sterilizations in US history.
Dowbiggin, Ian Robert. The Sterilization Movement and Global Fertility in the Twentieth Century. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print. Information on forced sterilization.
Barkan, Elazar. The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race in Britain and the United States between the World Wars. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992. Print. Info on how the push for eugenics died out.
Cogdell, Christina. Eugenic Design: Streamlining America in the 1930s. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 2004. Print. Eugenics in the US during the early 1900’s. htthnnp://.us/articles/1796.html Edwin Black. November 2003. History News Network.
Decades before the Nazi’s experimented with eugenics, California was considered the epicenter of the eugenics movement. http://hnn.us/articles/1796.html
CBS report on the secret past of Eugenics in America. http://www.counterpunch.org/2011/12/16/eugenics-in-america/
Forced sterilization was practiced in North Carolina for decades under secrecy. http://www.amphilsoc.org/exhibits/treasures/aes.htm
History of the American Eugenics society. http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/009/cuddy/eugenics.htm
Includes names of progressives and elites who supported eugenics in America. http://www.princeton.edu/~tleonard/papers/Eugenics.pdf
The economics of eugenics and the progressive American agenda.