Darwin argues that those characteristics we might think to be specifically human—physical strength and health, morality, and intelligence—were actually achieved by natural selection. From this, he infers two related eugenic conclusions.
First, if the desirable results of strength, health, morality, and intelligence are caused by natural selection, then we can improve them by artificial selection. We can breed better human beings, even rise above the human to the superhuman. Since human beings have been raised above the other animals by the struggle to survive, they may be raised even higher, transcending human nature to something—who knows?—as much above men as men are now above the apes.
Second, if good breeding gives us better results, pushing us up the evolutionary slope, then bad or indiscriminate breeding drags us back down. "If…various checks…do not prevent the reckless, the vicious and otherwise inferior members of society from increasing at a quicker rate than the better class of men," Darwin groaned, "the nation will retrograde, as has occurred too often in the history of the world. We must remember that progress is no invariable rule."
What about the link to Hitler? The first, most important thing to understand is that the link between Darwin and Hitler was not immediate. Darwin's eugenic ideas were spread all over Europe and America, until they were common intellectual coin by Hitler's time. Secondly, we misunderstand Hitler's evil if we reduce it to anti-Semitism. Hitler's anti-Semitism had, of course, multiple causes, including his own warped character. That having been said, Nazism was at heart a racial, that is, a biological political program based up evolutionary theory. It was "applied biology," in the words of deputy party leader of the Nazis, Rudolph Hess, and done for the sake of a perceived greater good, racial purity, that is, for the sake of a race purified of physical and mental defects, imperfections, and racial inferiority.
The proposed ruthlessness of his solution was in direct imitation of nature conceived according to Darwinism. "Just as Nature concentrates its greatest attention, not to the maintenance of what already exists but on the selective breeding of offspring in order to carry on the species, so in human life also it is less a matter of artificially improving the existing generation—which, owing to human characteristics, is impossible in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred—and more a matter of securing from the very start a better road for future development."
How do we secure a better road for future development? By ensuring that only the best of the best race, the Aryan race, breed, and pruning away all the unfit and racially inferior. That isn't just a theory; it's eugenic Darwinism as a political program. As Hitler made clear, "the State is looked upon only as a means to an end and this end is the conservation of the racial characteristics of mankind." Jews have to be pruned away, but also Gypsies, Slavs, the retarded, handicapped, and anyone else that is biologically unfit.
Information gathered from:
Wiker, B. Dr (2008) Darwin’s Dystopia, Retrieved 7th October 2008 from http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2020937/posts
Question:
· If you could have tried to prevent Hitler from going through with his enforced selective breeding what arguments would you have put forward?
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As history has shown us, Adolf Hitler has manipulated Darwin’s theory on eugenics into his evil plans to create “super humans” during WWII. He also believed that it was important to eradicate the imperfect such as the Jews, gypsies, slavs, as well as the mentally and physically unfit citizens. Through my understanding, I believe that people should have told Hitler that science cannot always produce a perfect result. If a superhuman was produced, nurture will influence them in certain ways as it is around us all. In order to stop nurture from influencing the superhuman, it will have to be created like an emotionless and obedient robot.
ReplyDeleteIt has been internationally stated that human or environmental errors will nearly always influence experiments. The risk of eugenics is creating a superhuman that is too powerful to be controlled by a superior leader (Hitler in this case). Eugenics could also create a disease within these superhumans that could be spread towards normal humans. This could lead to an extinction of humans and a desolate earth, left to nature to care for.
Evidently, there is no such thing as a “superior” race. Everyone is special and unique in certain ways. Through psychology, it is not surprising if people from a certain race act similarly in actions, speech etc. (due to the social learning theory). Our community and world would not be able to function without different races and people.
Tiffany
To prevent or stop Hitler's type of selective breeding, arguments would have to be powerful and influencial enough to change a mad-mans vision.
ReplyDeleteThe way to prevent Hitler would be to suggest that natural selection is a slow process, and it's effects would be inconcistent. And recesive genes may change your vision. Hitler may have had a rough up-bringing, causing him to rebel later in life, for revenge or even self-confidence and power. Hitler was nurtured to preform such sugnificant, historical actions and something as bad as Hitlers case can NOT be in their own personal nature.
Even if you raise someone to believe something, there experiences change how they think. This means that even if everyone is similar, the way they think would change as they grow.
In conclusion, I believe that Hitler was an action of a build of of many things inside of him, forcing him to rebel through nurture.
alex w
The arguments that would be put forward to prevent Hitler from going through with his enforced selective breeding are as follows:
ReplyDelete1. Even if a person is bred in a paricular environment and from 'smart' people, it does not ensure that the offspring will also have higher thinking levels. This is because experiences mould a person and nature also plays a great role in how a person turns out to be. For e.g. atudies show that in families where no person has artistic ability, a child with a higher artistic ability can be born. Smarter people may provide the correct environment for a person to develop higher mental functioning, however they can not avoid what nature and experiences do to change or mould a person.
2. Hitler mentions that disabilities and handicaps need to be bred OUT. This is IMPOSSIBLE because every person carries the potential to get diseased or handicapped however, only a few are provided with circumstance to develop these characteristics is the future. For e.g., accidents can make a person handicapped and emotional stress can cause depression. This has nothing to do with their upbringing but is simply the doing of nature or experiences.
Thus, Hitler should not have gone ahead with this enforced selective breeding program.
To prevent Hitler from his selective breeding process, i would have enforced the following arguments: Selective Breeding rids the society of variety and multiculturalism.If we can compare the selective breeding of pedigree dogs to this argument, it can be seen that these 'show' dogs can encounter multiple problems such as breathing difficulties, joint problems, and eye problems.
ReplyDeleteGiving the right nurturing environment for intelligent people cannot prevent the way the role that nature plays in ourselves.
jillease
If I was going to prevent Hitler going through with his enforced selective breeding, the arguments that I would have put forward would have been about how nobody can ‘select’ their eye color and/or hair color, therefore, Hitler has no right to discriminate against natures ways.
ReplyDeleteHitler was nurtured, in his primary years, with bullying by the Jews. Being brought up the way that he was, Hitler acted the way he did. When he got the chance he treated Jews just the way that he felt like he was being treated during his primary years. He didn’t just pick on the certain Jews that picked on him, he went beyond that and ‘picked on’ every single Jew living in Germany. Again, this is because of the way in which Hitler was bought up – the nurture side of the ‘Nature VS Nurture debate’
Concluding, I think that Hitler was a case of nurture throughout his middle age years.
-Mel 10J
There are many arguments that I would raise in regards to Hitler’s Aryan Race vision; the first being that eugenics can develop into genetic discrimination. By encouraging certain healthy people to breed and others not to, such as people with different racial backgrounds, or mental and physical defects, it is discriminating against those who do not fit the desired criteria.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there would be a lack of individuality, which would bring in the argument of nature versus nurture. Not just in the physical sense, but also if everybody was bred to be ‘pure’ and ‘perfect’, some argue that even our personalities would be greatly influenced as a result of nature and genetic predeterminations.
Although I disagree with selective breeding, I think that trying to eradicate some genetic disadvantages and disabilities would be ideal in that we could improve the lives of certain people. However, the way to do this is not to discourage breeding; it is their decision whether or not to pass on their genes.
I would have put forward the argument that, “I respect Hitler’s motives and desires but the way he carried them out was probably not the most effective way”. I believe Hitler’s idea about human selective breeding was an extremely good one but there were much better ways to make an Aryan race. For example, instead of just stopping people that you think should not breed you could give an incentive for them not to breed. Furthermore, people that Hitler wanted to breed he could have given an incentive to breed. Hitler could have worked out which people should breed or not breed by making them have a general IQ test. Moreover, what the person got on the test would determine if they got the incentive or not.
ReplyDeleteAnother argument that I would have put forward is that in doing his enforced selective breeding program could put him politically in the wrong place. Other nations would despise Hitler for such conduct and therefore Germany may have had a decline in trade and tourism. Thus Germany may lose a lot of money in, first, trying to restrict some people breeding and secondly, having less trade and tourism.
Finally, having an enforced selective breeding program could be messing with nature. Even know in the short term the idea looks fantastic it could have consequences in the long run. For example if everyone is strong, blue eyed, blond hair and smart then people could become highly deindividuated and therefore be more prone to gang or mob behaviour, which can result in violence and aggression. So having differences and abnormalities in the general public can actually have its advantages.
Iain
My arguments against this enforced selective breeding are that it would cause a lack of individuality and discriminate people who do not fit the desired criteria.
ReplyDeleteThe theory of a perfect race would be ideal but this also brings up the Nature vs. Nurture debate. If human characteristics are completely based of our biological genes (nature) then it would eventually result in no individuality. The whole human race would all have the same abilities and characteristics. No one would be unique or different.
Selective breeding would also discriminate those who do not suit the desired criteria. For example people with diabetes from birth would be discriminated even though they have to control over their condition. In Hitler’s case, the Jews were discriminated which resulted in World War II. It is not right to encourage certain races and religions to breed just because of a personal issue.
Although Selective breeding would cause a lack of individuality and discriminate certain individuals it would only be beneficial in the sense that it would help to eliminate disabilities and help those with disadvantages. In my opinion this is the only reason for selective breeding so I would defiantly discourage any form of artificial selection.
Mandy
Not only is the concept of selective breeding for the purpose of creating the perfect human immoral, it is flawed. When the entirety of a population possesses similar genes, problems arise. Not all of the genes these ‘perfect’ people posses will be desirable. Take, for example, racehorses. “Thoroughbred race horses are fragile creatures that often break their bones when doing the one thing they are bred to do racing.” (http://www.helium.com/items/583834-the-effects-of-positive-eugenics-on-society, 2009), because there is no variation in their genes, all thoroughbreds have this problem. If selective breeding in humans were to occur, we would face the same problem. Without genetic variation, perhaps natural immunity to certain diseases would not occur. If this artificial selection happened, the human race would not evolve further, due to the lack of genetic variation. Evolution must occur naturally for it to be productive in advancing the human race.
ReplyDeleteRyan
I think that if he wanted to create the perfect race he should have done it without kill millions of people. he should have tested people phisically and mentally to see if they were "worthy" to create the perfect race without basing the perfect race on skin colour hair colour and eye colour. If someone passed the test then they would be put on a list.
ReplyDeletei dont think anyone would want to take the test though.
Connor R-J
Arguments that I would have put forward to try and prevent Hitler from his selective breeding plan is that it is plan is just plain wrong. The idea of killing of people or even stopping them from breeding just because they were born with something different from what you were born with is completely crazy.
ReplyDeleteEveryone wants to have a perfect race but this is clearly not the way to do it. Denying people their basic human rights of being able to live and reproduce will not achieve anything. Hitlers plan goes against all human rights and is seriously flawed.
If I was to try and prevent Hitler from enforcing his selective breeding then I would put forward my argument that achieving the “perfect race” cannot be done by reproducing people of the same race.
ReplyDeleteOur immunities, diseases and physical/mental disabilities are decided by our genetics. There is no specific race free from all disease and disabilities. When a child is born they gain anti bodies from their mothers and can therefore gain a better immune system. Though if throughout the same, or only race, only certain anti bodies are produced then the whole population would be subjected to disease and infection which would have the potential to wipe out the race. Therefore it would be in Hitler’s best interest to keep variety in breeding.
Also, everyone would have very similar environments. Therefore the whole race would be similar in personalities and talents as these would be embraced by the community and family. This would result in a society that wouldn’t function as people would all be trained and intelligent in similar areas. For example, if everyone was artists, there would be very few if any medical researchers. Therefore it would be impractical for Hitler to create his “perfect race”.
Izzy.
Eugenics should in fact be used to enhance the behaviour, health and longevity of the human race. The only reason that eugenics is frowned upon in society, is because when Adolf Hitler tried to create his perception of ‘the master race’, he ruthlessly destroyed those who opposed his ideals (ie. Jews).
ReplyDeleteHowever, if the positives of eugenics are considered, it is obvious that society would benefit from its use. Eugenics could be used to breed favoured hereditary traits in humans, such as intelligence, conscientiousness and work ethic.
Also, the prevalence of diseases and mutation could be eliminated, increasing the human life-time. In creating a superior race, eugenics would also remove the issue of discrimination.
As stated by Dr J Watson (co-discoverer of DNA structure), Eugenics is in fact ‘the science that deals with the improvement of hereditary qualities of the human race’.
There are so many geniuses that the human race has encountered that have help us to discover new things about our world in science, music, geography, the environment and much more. Famous musicians like Mozart, who is deaf, would have been killed because of his hearing impairment and the world would not be able to appreciate his beautiful music, if he had been under Hitler’s rule.
ReplyDeleteIf a person is bred in a certain environment with ‘smart’, ‘good’ genes, it does not ensure that their children will be smart. This is due to the fact that nurture plays a massive role in a person’s development because without the care and support that a child needs, they may not be as capable as their parents and thus not develop properly.
Besides, just because a person is handicapped or paraplegic, then it doesn’t mean that they are not intelligent.