Some of the 19th and 20th century followers of Darwin hit on a novel way to speed up the "natural selection" process. Their ideas led to the development of what is called "eugenics." Wikipedia has a good history of the eugenics movement article and lots of other information on eugenics. Be good if you could read the first article, and, if you like, some of the 2nd. What do you see here that suggests that there is a dark side to the Darwinian idea of progress?
Monday, October 30, 2023
The Eugenics Movement (extra credit)
Some of the 19th and 20th century followers of Darwin hit on a novel way to speed up the "natural selection" process. Their ideas led to the development of what is called "eugenics." Wikipedia has a good history of the eugenics movement article and lots of other information on eugenics. Be good if you could read the first article, and, if you like, some of the 2nd. What do you see here that suggests that there is a dark side to the Darwinian idea of progress?
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The Darwinian idea of progress was a good movement according to some people. It led to the term known as "eugenics", which has often been seen throughout the world's history. I believe this idea of Darwin had a dark side to it. I think this because this idea has discriminatory beliefs, stating that only certain people will get stronger through natural selection. This idea has also led to bad events in history.
ReplyDelete- Jameson Palmer
The numerous science improvements increases the mental disorders studies. Trying to limit the passing on the mental illness to the next generation. The states law was written in the 19th and early 20th century to prevent all the passing on of the illness.
ReplyDelete-Treyton Cacek
This article was quite interesting to read and look into. I think it is quite dark how they think that they should control reproduction. They want to create something perfect in a way but this overall is not a good idea for the greater good of people and they don't like being controlled. I also read about some discrimination and racial comments which also are proof that there is a dark side to this. - Ricky Berndt
ReplyDeleteThese articles were very interesting. The Darwinian ideas of progress were, for some people, great ideas that would move society forward. However, in practice, many of these ideas were not so great. Now, looking back on these ideas, we can see the many problems with them. Sterilizing those with mental illnesses or intellectual disabilities was commonplace during the eugenics movement, but now we can see that this was, and still is, wrong. There is also the aspect of race and discrimination involved in the eugenics movement. Racial minorities, such as African Americans and Native Americans were often victims of the eugenics movement. While Darwinian ideas may have started out relatively innocent, they developed into a much darker problem that led to infringement on people's personal rights and freedoms.
ReplyDeleteReagan Spomer
DeleteAfter reading these very and I mean very interesting articles, I can definantly see a little bit of darkness to the Darwinian idea of progress. The ideas were not to bad at the start but like then I read about how they want or think they should control reproduction which would not be a very good idea and would be an infringement on peoples rights. Also, the idea of natural selection and how that weeds out the weak and makes people stronger is a pretty dark idea.
ReplyDeleteEugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim for better genetics. This has been used in parental care. One of their beliefs was that if the child was incapable, he would be killed on a mountain. Plato advocated for selective breeding. Darwin's views on reproduction were a bad thing for the rights of humans. Natural selection has been a law that would never work. Letting the strongest life would never make it far. Although everyone knows who Darwin is, some of his views, especially the bad, aren't talked about enough.
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