Eugenics

Eugenics is a largely discredited set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population by encouraging the reproduction of those considered most fit and restricting that of those considered inferior.

The term was coined by Francis Galton in 1883, drawing on the Greek for "good birth" or "good lineage". It grew out of the social reception of Darwin's theory of evolution and of Social Darwinism, which explained inequality as a natural outcome of the struggle for survival. Galton distinguished between positive measures, which favoured the reproduction of the fittest, and negative ones, which sought to prevent or hinder that of the unfit. His proposal had a strong elitist character. Other figures of the period, such as Charles Richet and Julius Wagner-Jauregg, applied the same logic to mental disability and psychiatric illness, with deeply harmful results.

Those who defended it held very different positions. Julian Huxley advocated a moderate eugenics that would reconcile the improvement of the species with social justice and welfare. Others, such as Richard Lynn, have argued for reproductive selection to raise the average intelligence of a population. In the twentieth century, eugenics became associated with scientific racism, forced sterilisation and programmes of extermination, most notoriously the Nazi Aktion T4, and the scientific community largely distanced itself from the term.

Today the debate centres on whether eugenics can exist without coercion. Modern genetics has shown that the link between genes and psychological traits is mediated by many environmental and developmental factors, which undermines much of its foundation. Even so, prenatal diagnosis, in vitro fertilisation and genetic engineering reopen bioethical questions about when individual reproductive choices might count as eugenic, and what moral limits should be respected.