LINKS ABOUT EUGENICS: SOME HISTORY AND SOME OPINION

For Marouf Hasian, author of The Rhetoric of Eugenics in Anglo-American Thought, the appeal of eugenics in English and American minds has never diminished but only taken on new names. From Francis Galton through Charles Davenport and Harry Laughlin and right up to Murray and Herrnstein, the only significant challenge in Anglo-American thought to the value of eugenics has been some semantic backpedaling to make sense of Nazi Germany.

In the meantime, genetics has burst forth, able to offer a way to combine "democratic" values and deliberate improvement of humans by "geneticizing" social problems and urging parents to "choose" their [eugenically fit] offspring with tools such as amniocentesis and gene therapy.

Hasian is obviously sympathetic with the arguments of Daniel Kevles, for whom discussions of genetic engineering clearly belong in discussions about eugenics. And while he is no Jeremy Rifkin, he is certainly cautious when James Watson (yes, that Watson), first director of the Human Genome Project, warns that it is an "act of true moral cowardice to allow children to be born with known genetic defects."

The Rhetoric of Eugenics in Anglo-American Thought is reviewed at The Net Net, in the July 19, 1996, issue.

This page has no illusions about objectivity or comprehensiveness. It is merely a jumping-off point in the search for discussions and documents about eugenics. Please let The 60-Minute Intellectual know if you find a site that would add to this page, particularly if it offers a perspective not already represented here.

• The Roots of the I.Q. Debate, an introduction by Marget Quigley.
• The Eugenics Movement, a page offering info about early proponents of eugenics
• Future Generations, a collection of essays about something called "humanitarian eugenics." Features a contribution from Charles Murray, of The Bell Curve fame.
• For Whom the Bell Curve Tolls, Skeptic magazine electronic reprint of a 1995 interview with Charles Murray, co-author of The Bell Curve.
• A Pro-Bell Curve letter to ABC, posted by the Pioneer Fund.
• Description of the Pioneer Fund, at a site called "Religion in Politics". This quite interesting site has a number of articles on related topics.
• Pioneer Fund on the Defensive, a rebuttal.
• A Bioethicist's Critique of Eugenics, from the University of Pennsylvania, Center for Bioethics site.
• The Gene Letter, a newsletter funded by a Department of Energy grant. The issues includes several articles about eugenics, among other topics in human genetics.
• A Bibliography of Eugenics Discussions, from The United States in the Progressive Era a developing resources site at Swarthmore College.
• A feminist critique of eugenics, book review by Eileen Manion.
• Is genetics merely the new eugenics? John Gillott discusses this in The Spectre of Eugenics, reproduced from Living Marxism.
• Life Issues, at the American Life League, a pro-life organization. This index includes pointers to articles about cloning and eugenics, as well as other interesting and controversial issues.
• Eugenics Watch - describe "how evolution, Yale and the English aristocracy happened."
• NeoEugenics' web site - original articles and reviews, eg, "With war raging in the Middle East, the question must be asked: 'are they different from us, and how?' [Ethnocentrism and the Semitic Mind] uses several important books, with lengthy quotes, that shows how evolution has shaped the tribalistic Semitic mind different from the European individualist mind, how it must be genetic, and what it means for survival of the West."

Modified April 2005. This page was originally created in 1996 and is not regularly reviewed. Occasionally, I receive reports of dead links, and I try to replace them with live ones but may also just remove them. This list has only one purpose: to list a range of opinions about eugenics. If you know of a site that represents a perspective not present here, please let me know.