At the end of the XX century, the beginning of the XX century, science was on the rise. The editions of Darwin's Origin of Species , written back in 1859, were sold out in a matter of days, and the debate about the paths of evolution and the possibilities to influence it did not subside for a minute. Over the several decades that scientists have intensively studied the evolutionary approach, many areas in biology have emerged, some of which have suggested an active influence on the course of human evolution.
Eugenics - what is it?
Throughout its history, mankind has used selection to increase crop yields and domestic animal productivity. Thus, the history of eugenics has its roots in the very desire of man to maximize the productivity of not only animals, but also his own species.
A separate discipline dealing with scientific ethics in the XlX century did not exist yet, therefore the church, which actively criticized all sorts of attempts to interfere with the structure of divine creation, took on the role of the main limiter and obstacle to improving the human species.
Thus, the ideas of eugenics are that through targeted selection to improve the human species, exercising control over childbearing and marriage unions.
Popularity and dubious reputation
In the first decades of the 20th century, it became so popular that some states began to think about putting its main provisions into practice. So the union of German Nazi science and eugenics took place. It was under the Nazi regime that measures such as forced sterilization, experiments on living people, and the destruction of entire groups of people recognized by the government as undesirable, gained the most terrible distribution.
However, eugenic laws were applied far beyond the borders of Nazi Germany. For example, in the United States, in some states, poor and low IQ people were offered rewards for undergoing voluntary sterilization. It was assumed that people with undesirable qualities could spoil the gene pool by the very fact of the birth of children.
First of all, eugenics is a science that studies artificial selection, the main object of which is man. There are two ways to control such selection: the so-called positive eugenics focuses on stimulating marriages, as a result of which children with sought-after features are born; negative genetics is based on the exclusion of the birth of children with developmental defects or traits that are undesirable for society. With the development of diagnostic medical technologies, such methods of birth control as genetic tests and ultrasound diagnostics have appeared in the arsenal of eugenics.
Returning Eugenics
What is eugenic principles, it becomes clear if you look at the problem in retrospect. First of all, it is worth understanding the meaning of the word itself. Translated from ancient Greek, the word translates approximately as "noble-born." So the teaching of eugenics was born. What is artificial selection, it became clear in 1883, when the scientist F. Galton published his fundamental work "Study of human abilities and their development."
The main pillar of eugenics was the ideology of genetic determinism. The essence of Galton’s teachings boiled down to the fact that neither upbringing, nor education radically affect the manner of behavior, but heredity plays a leading role, which determines, among other things, social behavior.
With the publication of this book, the victorious procession of eugenics at European universities began. New science has earned a place in the academic environment.
Eugenics as a science. Key Points
In 1907, the Galton Society was created in Britain, in which they dealt with the development of the provisions of new science and the search for tools to put them into practice. In the United States, a similar society appeared in 1921 and was called the American Eugenic Society.
The history of eugenics is inextricably linked with the concept of social Darwinism, which is based on the fact that only certain classes and classes, as well as people with some anthropological characteristics, are worthy to continue their kind.
The ethics of eugenics is based on the fact that people are not born equal, only the most worthy have the right to control the course of human evolution, interfering in the reproductive process. Thus, eugenics is a science that studies human selection.
Criticism of contemporaries
Despite the victorious procession of new science in universities and government offices, not all intellectuals supported its methods. The convinced opponents of eugenic methods were the writer Chesterton, the American sociologist Lester Ward, as well as the biologists Fisher and Haldane, who expressed doubt that sterilization of the “defective” ones could lead to the disappearance of undesirable symptoms from the human population.
The largest and most powerful camp of consecutive opponents of forced sterilization and artificial selection consisted of representatives of religious organizations. Despite the fact that at first some religious leaders were interested in the new science, after 1930 the support ceased. Since Pope Pius Xl spoke out against the application of eugenic laws, he clearly stated that secular authorities have no right to dispose of the bodies of their subjects.
Nazism and the downgrade of research
Eugenics's reputational problems as a science began in the 1930s, when the Nazi geneticist Ernst Rudin set about using it to justify the crimes of the Third Reich. By that time, it was almost clear how natural selection and eugenics worked. What is Nazi medicine will become clear a little later, but this connection will irrevocably ruin the reputation of eugenic science.
Toward the end of World War II, the reputation of eugenics was completely ruined. A remarkable illustration of the evolution of views on artificial breeding methods is the story of Herbert Wells, who, from a consistent supporter of forced sterilization, has turned over thirty years into a staunch human rights activist. In particular, he argued that no one has the right to mutilate a person, no matter how serious his illness, but, on the contrary, society should take care of him. But, despite the resistance of some members of the public, in Sweden, for example, forced castration of the "inferior" was carried out until 1976.
Revival of interest
After exposing the crimes of Nazi Germany, inspired by eugenic research, the reputation of science seemed to be completely corrupted. However, after a long oblivion, interest in experiments returned again and theoretical research on the genome was revived again, but in the form of respectable genetics.
The stronghold of the new eugenic revolution has become the United States, where there are a sufficient number of high-tech research centers engaged in genetic engineering, cloning and prenatal diagnostics, which occupies a special place in this scientific direction. So the ideas of eugenics were continued in genetic engineering.
In 2003, Tanya Simoncelli, who worked at that time as an assistant director for criminology at the U.S. government, stated that prenatal genetic diagnostics ushered in a new era of eugenics, which, unlike the Nazi one, should not serve as a hateful ideology, but should meet the demand of the ordinary population.
Rehabilitation exercises
British evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins said in a 2006 newspaper article that eugenics is the science of the future. He also said that due to the fact that science was used by Nazi leaders in their interests, it had a shadow that hindered objective research in this area for several decades.
The researcher added that, in his opinion, this approach is not much different from breeding in agriculture. Of course, in his justification of the eugenic approach, the scientist is based on the fact that since the time of the Third Reich, the ethics of science has not stood still and will be able to answer many complex questions and help find a solution in ambiguous situations.
However, Dawkins’s approach differs significantly from its predecessors. He does not so much offer to influence the result of pregnancy and engage in artificial selection, as he insists that eugenics will help a person learn more about himself. For example, after passing the genetic tests, parents will not waste time teaching the child music, unless the tests show the appropriate abilities. It is expected that such tests will help improve achievements in sports if people know their strengths and weaknesses. According to Dawkins, genetics and eugenics can be the solution to many problems of the modern world.
What is discrimination, the International Bioethics Committee suggests recalling, whose members believe that such an approach opens the door to discrimination and stigmatization and casts doubt on the idea of universal equality of people.
Despite the fact that modern supporters of eugenics in every possible way avoid comparisons with twentieth-century practitioners using the words “reproductive genetics” and “germinal choice,” virtually all of these studies are part of human selection.
One of the most common medical procedures today - prenatal screening - can also be considered as a form of implementation of the eugenic approach. From a medical point of view, such screening can prevent the birth of a child with serious genetic abnormalities and hereditary diseases.
Modern Eugenics: Problems with Efficiency
For the first time, difficulties with the implementation of genetic selection by eugenics were announced in 1915 by Thomas Hunt Morgan, who believed that personality characteristics could not be inherited, for example, he doubted that the propensity for violence and crime could be transmitted from parents to children and indicated that that inheritance occurs socially through education, and not through the genome.
In addition, he cited the results of observations of flies, which showed that negative factors - such as extra pairs of eyes or paws - appear in Drosophila not only as a result of inheritance, but also as a result of mutations.
However, today the science of eugenics is based on more advanced technologies. For example, the tests that couples pass before conceiving a child can determine if there is a risk of having a child with genetic abnormalities and, accordingly, refuse to give birth in such a case. But one cannot say about this high-tech test that it provides absolute protection against error: there are cases when couples who decided to conceive a child despite a negative test result gave birth to healthy children.
Loss of genetic diversity
Specialists in genetics and evolutionary biology are alarmed by the fact that excessive enthusiasm for selective politics can lead to degradation of the human population, similar to the degradation of populations living in very small habitats or on islands.
Edward Miller insists that any generation should be given the opportunity to make a small contribution to the evolutionary development of the species and indicates that even phenomena that may seem negative to us are ultimately of great importance for biological development.
Opposition to eugenics
Most opponents of eugenics point out that no matter how good the intentions of the researchers may be, ultimately all this will lead to actions contrary to ethics. For such actions, opponents of eugenics include forced sterilization, genetic discrimination, segregation and, possibly, genocide.
In her seminal article on evolution, Lori Andrews claims that abuse of the ability to interfere with evolution will lead to the emergence of the so-called post-man, which may differ from the modern one in an unpredictable set of qualities. In addition, he recommends not to intervene in such fundamental processes as aging and life expectancy, which eugenics is just interested in.
What is human life? What is its meaning and can a person assume the role of a creator? Numerous bioethics experts are asking these questions. There are many answers at the moment, but all of them do not seem convincing, which means that more than one generation of biologists, ethics, philosophers and theologians will struggle to solve ethical problems. The problems of eugenics deserve to be given the closest attention.