Reaping the Whirlwind of Nazi Eugenics
By Kate Douglas,
New Scientist
| 07. 14. 2014
Untitled Document
Are some fields of scientific exploration so incendiary they should be fenced off and labelled "Keep out"?
I'm inclined to think not, both from a commitment to intellectual freedom and for the practical reason that if you put up such notices, trespassers are guaranteed. Still, if any area of research might warrant prohibition it is eugenics – the branch of human genetics used to justify repugnant Nazi ideology and, before that, the enforced sterilisation of "degenerates" around the world.
Yet eugenics was not cordoned off. A mere two decades after the second world war, it was reinvented as behaviour genetics. The story of what happened next is both gripping and salutary – and it is told with wonderful insight by sociologist Aaron Panofsky from the Institute of Society and Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles.
It is testament to human resilience and optimism that behaviour genetics was born into an atmosphere of academic excitement. Seen as an antidote to behaviourism – the idea that behaviour can be scientifically understood without recourse to anything beyond the observable...
Related Articles
Reproductive rights have been a flashpoint in national politics for decades, with the stakes surging after the Supreme Court shredded the right to an abortion. In the current presidential campaign, the battle over abortion has swelled and morphed to encompass in vitro fertilization (IVF), which has now moved rapidly from widely accepted to partisan hot button.
This dramatic shift was highlighted by the February decision of the Alabama Supreme Court that granted personhood rights to frozen IVF embryos, signaling that...
By Sara Moretto, The Varsity | 09.22.2024
It was 2020. I was wrapping up grade nine science with a solid 60 per cent, hoping that if anyone saw my failed tests in the recycling bin, it would contribute to an air of mystery about me. This reason...
By Gabby Del Valle, The Baffler | 09.17.2024
IT’S A COMMON STORY, banal, even: a child of privilege, an heir apparent, leaves for college to get a good enough education—and maybe have a little fun—before taking over the family business. But the child, away from the nest for...
By Ali Breland, The Atlantic | 08.20.2024
“Joining us now is Steve Sailer, who I find to be incredibly interesting, and one of the most talented noticers,” Charlie Kirk said on his internet show in October. Kirk, the 30-year-old founder of Turning Point USA, a right-wing...