Development of a Eugenic Philosophy

Abstract

DURING recent years there has been renewed interest in the critical examination of eugenic theory, and in the reformulation of a reasonable and effective eugenic philosophy. This development has attracted the attention of professional students in the fields of population, genetics, human geography, sociology, and social philosophy, as well as of laymen active in various fields of administration. Out of what seemed at times a wide divergence of opinion, considerable agreement is possible on a broad philosophy of eugenics which appears not incompatible with present knowledge. Any such philosophy must, however, be recognized as tentative and experimental. The present scientific knowledge as to human inheritance and its relation to our social system is too limited for any dogmatic formulation of ideas. In the field of heredity, biologists are agreed that the genetic constitution of modern man is exceedingly heterogeneous. This carries certain very practical implications. Any program of negative eugenics, even of a very drastic sort, must therefore have limited results. The actual sterilization of as much as one percent of the population might be justified from a social point of view, as social economy, and as a protection to children from the tragedy of being reared by feebleminded parents. It would also be justified eugenically because it would prevent propagation among a group of individuals, many of whom are carriers of serious defect. But the trend of the race would still be largely determined by the birth differentials among the remaining 99 percent of the population. Similarly, an increase of births among the limited number of people recognizable as carriers of superior genes would not directly affect the trend to any great extent, even if the difficulties of bringing about such an increase could be surmounted. It must not be overlooked, however, that such an increase would be vastly more important than a corresponding decrease in defectives through sterilization. This limited upper group is the one that has suffered most from a decline of the birth rate, and therefore is the one that most needs to be restored to a normal condition. Nevertheless, a eugenic philosophy dealing only with the extremes would be limited in its effect, as well as socially controversial. As a corollary to the heterogeneous genetic composition of most of our people, it appears reasonable to make an assumption as to the distribution of socially valuable hereditary capacities. While at the present time it is impossible to measure differences in such capacities among the majority