DOCSLIB.ORG

The Racial World of Aleš Hrdlička

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Racial World of Aleš Hrdlička The Racial World of Aleš Hrdlička Inaugural‐Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades der Philosophie der Ludwig‐Maximilians‐Universität München vorgelegt von Mark Andrew Brandon aus Aurora, Illinois, United States 2020 Referent/in: Prof. Dr. Michael Hochgeschwender Korreferent/in: Prof. Dr. Ursula Prutsch Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 9. Juli 2020 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I want to thank my dissertation director, Professor Michael Hochgeschwender, for seeing the merits of my proposal and giving me the opportunity to complete it. His advice has always been precisely appropriate. I also want to thank the Amerika-Institut at Ludwig-Maximilians University for its generosity in helping to fund my research at the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. I also wish to thank the kind people attached to the Smithsonian and its Anthropological Archives. Thank you to Stephen Loring of the Museum of Natural History for supporting my project, taking the time to meet with me when I was in Washington, and letting me have a look at what was once Hrdlička’s office. Many thanks to Douglas Ubelaker, who shared some of his own works on Hrdlička with me. Thank you as well to Gina Rappaport at the Anthropological Archives; I still cherish the coffee mug. Thank you Caitlyn Haynes for finding a few sources for me that were very important to this study. I really loved every minute I spent at the Anthropological Archives. There are some special people from my homeland that I wish to thank. Among the dead are my parents, Mark and Diane Brandon, who taught me the fine balance between playing by the rules and at the same time not believing most of what the high and mighty say. Among the living is my sister, Joy Courtright, who is one of the most spontaneously loving, generous, and empathetic people I know; and also my friend since third grade, Bruce Cassell, whose common sense and good humor have always kept me from wandering too far into academic gibberish. On this side of the ocean, there is another set of soulmates, who have shared the immigrant experience with me for around 20 years now. These are especially Tony Laue, Joel Head and Chris Montoni. This dissertation would not have been possible without our long, and always interesting, conversations. There are now thousands of students all around the world who have taken my difficult history courses at some institution of higher learning in various places in the Czech Republic. Many of my ideas, as well as the ability to articulate them, came not only from preparing lectures, but also from listening to students, trying to understand their thinking, and discussing with them. Thank you. For Mark, Max, and Otto CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER I: THE FAITH OF ALEŠ HRDLIČKA .................................................................... 12 CHAPTER II: EUGENICS ............................................................................................................. 38 CHAPTER III: RACE DIVINATION ........................................................................................... 63 CHAPTER IV: HOW THE CZECHS BECAME WHITE ........................................................ 96 CHAPTER V: WHAT ARE THE CZECHOSLOVAKS RACIALLY? .................................. 125 CHAPTER VI: “PUBLIC OPINION IS A POWERUL WEAPON,” 1914-1943 .................... 161 CHAPTER VII: THE MUSEUM OF MAN ................................................................................ 205 CHAPTER VIII: THE LAST GREAT RESERVE OF THE WHITE RACE ......................... 239 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 279 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 283 ABSTRACT: „DIE RASSISCHE WELT VON ALEŠ HRDLIČKA“ ..................................... 308 1 INTRODUCTION In 1898, Aleš Hrdlička published a pioneering study called Anthropological Investigations on One Thousand White and Colored Children of Both Sexes. In his research for the book, he carefully measured, as the title explains, 1,000 white and “colored” children.1 He measured and recorded such physical features as the height, weight, and the length and breadth of the head of each child. Altogether he measured 908 white and 92 “colored” boys and girls.2 The “colored” children were especially important because he wanted to document physical differences between blacks and whites. He believed that the data in this book would help scientists identify racial boundaries by physical characteristics. His observations, he claimed, made it possible to “state for the first time the physical differences in all parts of the body between the white and the colored children.”3 Elsewhere in the book he announced, “we have obtained some remarkable differences in the measurements of the white and the negro subjects.”4 Hrdlička’s anthropometric study of orphans exposes a crucial problem that was central to his idea of race. It is also a critical tool of analysis in the following chapters. Hrdlička believed that measurable somatic features divided black from white, and that the truest way to separate humans into groups was according to their distinguishing physical marks. He built much of his professional career on the assumption that such measurements could objectively distinguish the borders between races. The key problem is that all of the racial and national “identities” that Hrdlička cared the most about were inherently ambiguous, malleable, and unmeasurable. Both race and nation are creations 1 The context suggests that Hrdlička used “colored” as a synonym for “black” and “negro.” He usually claimed to believe in three main races: “White,” “Black,” and “Yellow-Brown,” which he also called “Caucasoid,” “Negroid,” and “Mongoloid,” so the term “colored,” besides sounding offensive to the modern ear, adds one more exception to his already imprecise terminology. 2 Aleš Hrdlička, Anthropological Investigations on One Thousand White and Colored Children of Both Sexes, The Inmates of the New York Juvenile Asylum, With Additional Notes on One Hundred Colored Children of the New York Colored Orphan Asylum (New York: Wynkoop, Hallenbeck, Crawford Co., 1898), 11. 3 Ibid, 6. 4 Ibid, 58. 2 of the human imagination, and their meanings depend on specific historical contexts; neither is a measurable biological category. Despite his enthusiasm, Hrdlička’s 1898 study of New York orphans did not help to delimit clear physiological categories of black and white. It is essential to notice that for the study, he went to two different institutions to get his measurements. He found his white subjects at the New York Juvenile Asylum, but for “colored” children, which he considered some of “the most important measurements,” he went to the New York Colored Orphan Asylum, a separate establishment.5 This means that the real decisions about which children belonged in what race were made before Hrdlička got there. Whoever decided the fate of the city’s orphans already knew how to distinguish between the races, probably without the science of anthropometry. Someone had already sent the “colored” children to the “colored” orphanage. Long before Hrdlička showed up with his calipers, someone else had already decided which children were white and which were black. Hrdlička simply trusted that the children in the Colored Orphan Asylum were really “colored” and measured them as such. What Hrdlička really documented were fleeting cultural biases, not permanent biological categories. For the rest of his life, he meticulously measured cultural whims, but he authoritatively publicized them as distinct categories found in the “natural” world. In reality, his own research often revealed that the borders between races were very blurry, the opposite of what he hoped. Of course, there were always a few individuals who fit easily into popular stereotypes of black and white, but the real problem, which Hrdlička never solved, was how to classify those whose racial profile seemed neutral or mixed. Even at the orphanages in 1898, he had to admit that according to his own measurements the black and white children were more alike than he had expected. “The differences between the white and the colored children,” he conceded, were “not as well defined” as he had anticipated.6 Instead of questioning his premise; however, he 5 Ibid, 3. 6 Ibid, 19. 3 discounted this lack of confirming data in a manner that became habitual throughout his life; he simply insisted that forthcoming evidence would soon vindicate his presumptions. More data, he speculated, would show that the differences were more pronounced. The black and white children would seem more physically different, he conjectured, “if we had sufficient numbers of the colored subjects.”7 To make matters even more unclear, some children in the orphanages appeared “mixed” to Hrdlička. For example, in comparing blacks and whites he noted, “the hair of the pure negro child is quite lusterless and as a rule either curly or wavy, by far more frequently the former than the latter. The proportion of wavy hair increases largely in mixed subjects and the same is true about luster of the hair.”8 By acknowledging the existence of mixture, Hrdlička recognized that many children could not be simply white or black; there was instead a scale of variation between the two. The problem
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of the Lidice Memorial in Phillips, Wisconsin
    “Our Heritage, Our Treasure”: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of the Lidice Memorial in Phillips, Wisconsin Emily J. Herkert History 489: Capstone November 2015 Copyright for this work is owned by the author. This digital version is published by the McIntyre Library, University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire with the consent of the author. Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...iii Lists of Figures and Maps………………………………………………………………………...iv Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..1 Background………………………………………………………………………………………..3 Historiography…………………………………………………………………………………….8 The Construction of the Lidice Memorial……………………………………………………….13 Memorial Rededication……………………………………………………………………….….20 The Czechoslovakian Community Festival……...………………………………………………23 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………….28 Works Cited……………………………………………………………………………………...30 ii Abstract The Lidice Memorial in Phillips, Wisconsin is a place of both memory and identity for the Czechoslovak community. Built in 1944, the monument initially represented the memory of the victims of the Lidice Massacre in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia while simultaneously symbolizing the patriotic efforts of the Phillips community during World War II. After the memorial’s rededication in 1984 the meaning of the monument to the community shifted. While still commemorating Lidice, the annual commemorations gave rise to the Phillips Czechoslovakian Community Festival held each year. The memorial became a site of cultural identity for the Phillips community and is
    [Show full text]
  • Eugenics and the Conservation Movement in the United States, 1900–1940 Garland E
    Washington University in St. Louis Washington University Open Scholarship Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations Biology 2013 “Culling the Herd”: Eugenics and the Conservation Movement in the United States, 1900–1940 Garland E. Allen Washington University in St Louis Follow this and additional works at: https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bio_facpubs Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Allen, Garland E., "“Culling the Herd”: Eugenics and the Conservation Movement in the United States, 1900–1940" (2013). Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations. 6. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bio_facpubs/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Biology at Washington University Open Scholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations by an authorized administrator of Washington University Open Scholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 1 Revised 11-09 -11 "Culling the Herd": Eugenics and the Conservation Movement in the United States, 1900-1940 Garland E. Allen Department of Biology Washington University, St. Louis, MO Note: This paper was originally presented as a special lecture at the Forum for the History of Science in America during the History of Science Society annual meeting in Pittsburgh, November, 2008. It was dedicated to the late Philip J. Pauly in recognition of the enormous scholarly contribution he made to the history of American science, and to his warm friendship for so many colleagues in the field. Although we had Phil amongst us for far too short a time, we have all gained much from him that will carry on in our field for decades to come.
    [Show full text]
  • The Radical Roots of the Alt-Right
    Gale Primary Sources Start at the source. The Radical Roots of the Alt-Right Josh Vandiver Ball State University Various source media, Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century EMPOWER™ RESEARCH The radical political movement known as the Alt-Right Revolution, and Evolian Traditionalism – for an is, without question, a twenty-first century American audience. phenomenon.1 As the hipster-esque ‘alt’ prefix 3. A refined and intensified gender politics, a suggests, the movement aspires to offer a youthful form of ‘ultra-masculinism.’ alternative to conservatism or the Establishment Right, a clean break and a fresh start for the new century and .2 the Millennial and ‘Z’ generations While the first has long been a feature of American political life (albeit a highly marginal one), and the second has been paralleled elsewhere on the Unlike earlier radical right movements, the Alt-Right transnational right, together the three make for an operates natively within the political medium of late unusual fusion. modernity – cyberspace – because it emerged within that medium and has been continuously shaped by its ongoing development. This operational innovation will Seminal Alt-Right figures, such as Andrew Anglin,4 continue to have far-reaching and unpredictable Richard Spencer,5 and Greg Johnson,6 have been active effects, but researchers should take care to precisely for less than a decade. While none has continuously delineate the Alt-Right’s broader uniqueness. designated the movement as ‘Alt-Right’ (including Investigating the Alt-Right’s incipient ideology – the Spencer, who coined the term), each has consistently ferment of political discourses, images, and ideas with returned to it as demarcating the ideological territory which it seeks to define itself – one finds numerous they share.
    [Show full text]
  • Franz Boas: Who He Was, What He Did, and Why It Matters
    Anderson 1 Dylan Anderson Carol Pannocione GERM-1020 7 February 2020 Franz Boas: Who he was, what he did, and why it matters Franz Boas, to this day, is a figure in anthropology whose importance to the discipline can hardly be rivaled by any other figure. The ways in which his radical school of thought overhauled American anthropology cannot be overstated. Old ways of thinking with regards to race and culture were thrown to the wayside by Boas and his students. His life as well as his works were drenched in controversy and rivalry, partly due to his attack on the academic status quo. 1. Biography When Bendix Feibes Aron Levi was made to take a surname in 1808, he took the surname Boas, after the character from the Book of Ruth (Zumwalt 2). Bendix Boas went on, then, to become a textile merchant in Lubbecke, cementing a position in the community (2). At some point, his descendants moved to Minden (3). This is where Boas’ life began. Franz Uri Boas was born in Minden, a small town in the Westphalia region of Prussia on 9 July 1858 (King 14). His parents – Meier and Sophie Boas – were upper-class and highly educated Jews who ascribed to Haskalah thought (15). Haskalah was a philosophical school of Judaism concerned with the moral and cultural renewal of Judaism, especially the revival of the Hebrew language in daily usage. Although he was an excellent student all throughout school, his teachers bemoaned the fact that he never had any firm interest (King 16). He did especially well in high school in the Anderson 2 classical languages, geography, and arithmetic (16).
    [Show full text]
  • Proclamation 5682—July 20, 1987 101 Stat. 2169
    PROCLAMATION 5682—JULY 20, 1987 101 STAT. 2169 As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first animated feature-length film, we can be grateful for the art of film animation, which brings to the screen such magic and lasting vitality. We can also be grateful for the con­ tribution that animation has made to producing so many family films during the last half-century—films embodying the fundamental values of good over evil, courage, and decency that Americans so cherish. Through animation, we have witnessed the wonders of nature, ancient fables, tales of American heroes, and stories of youthful adventure. In recent years, our love for tech­ nology and the future has been reflected in computer-generated graphic art and animation. The achievements in the motion picture art that have followed since the debut of the first feature-length animated film in 1937 have mirrored the ar­ tistic development of American culture and the advancement of our Na­ tion's innovation and technology. By recognizing this anniversary, we pay tribute to the triimiph of creative genius that has prospered in our free en­ terprise system as nowhere else in the world. We recognize that, where men and women are free to express their creative talents, there is no limit to their potential achievement. In recognition of the special place of animation in American film history, the Congress, by House Joint Resolution 122, has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation calling upon the people of the United States to celebrate the week beginning July 16, 1987, with appropriate ob­ servances of the 50th anniversary of the animated feature film.
    [Show full text]
  • An Oral History Study of the Religiosity of Fifty Czech-American Elderly Christopher Jay Johnson Iowa State University
    Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 1981 An oral history study of the religiosity of fifty Czech-American elderly Christopher Jay Johnson Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Family, Life Course, and Society Commons Recommended Citation Johnson, Christopher Jay, "An oral history study of the religiosity of fifty Czech-American elderly " (1981). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 7433. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/7433 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Page(s)". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy.
    [Show full text]
  • Preview Issue, the American Historian
    PREVIEW ISSUE: APRIL 2014 The American Historian ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN HISTORIANS The ACT of HISTORY The Promise and Pitfalls of Historic Portrayals ALSO INSIDE Finding Time for Social Media p. 8 The Vexing Challenges of Contingent Historians p. 10 Writing History with Emotion p. 12 Reviews p. 28 Career and family... We’ve got you covered. Organization of American Historians’ member insurance plans and services have been carefully chosen for their valuable benefits at competitive group rates from a variety of reputable, highly-rated carriers. Professional Home & Auto • Professional Liability • GEICO Automobile Insurance • Private Practice Professional Liability • Homeowners Insurance • Student Educator Professional Liability • Pet Health Insurance Health Life • TIE Health Insurance Exchange • New York Life Group Term • New York Life Group Accidental Death Life Insurance† & Dismemberment Insurance† • New York Life 10 Year Level • Cancer Insurance Plan Group Term Life Insurance† • Medicare Supplement Insurance • Educators Dental Plan † Underwritten by New York Life Insurance Company, New York, NY 10010 Policy Form GMR. Please note: Not all plans are available in all states. Trust for Insuring Educators Administered by Forrest T. Jones & Company (800) 821-7303 • www.ftj.com/OAH Personalized Long Term Care Insurance Evaluation Featuring top insurance companies and special discounts. This advertisement is for informational purposes only and is not meant to define, alter, limit or expand any policy in any way. For a descriptive brochure that summarizes features, costs, eligibility, renewability, limitations and exclusions, call Forrest T. Jones & Company. Arkansas producer license #71740, California producer license #0592939. 2 The American Historian | April 2014 #6608 0314 6608 OAH All Coverage Ad.indd 1 2/26/14 3:46 PM Career and family..
    [Show full text]
  • Genetic Diversity of Four Filipino Negrito Populations From
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Digital Commons@Wayne State University Human Biology Volume 85 Issue 1 Special Issue on Revisiting the "Negrito" Article 9 Hypothesis 2013 Genetic Diversity of Four Filipino Negrito Populations from Luzon: Comparison of Male and Female Effective Population Sizes and Differential Integration of Immigrants into Aeta and Agta Communities E Heyer EcoAnthropologie et Ethnobiologie, MNHN, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France, [email protected] M Georges EcoAnthropologie et Ethnobiologie, MNHN, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France M Pachner Andaman and Nicobar Association, Liestal, Switzerland P Endicott EcoAnthropologie et Ethnobiologie, MNHN, CNRS, Université Paris Diderot, Paris, France Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol Part of the Biological and Physical Anthropology Commons, and the Genetics and Genomics Commons Recommended Citation Heyer, E; Georges, M; Pachner, M; and Endicott, P (2013) "Genetic Diversity of Four Filipino Negrito Populations from Luzon: Comparison of Male and Female Effective Population Sizes and Differential Integration of Immigrants into Aeta and Agta Communities," Human Biology: Vol. 85: Iss. 1, Article 9. Available at: http://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/humbiol/vol85/iss1/9 Genetic Diversity of Four Filipino Negrito Populations from Luzon: Comparison of Male and Female Effective Population Sizes and Differential Integration of Immigrants into Aeta and Agta Communities Abstract Genetic data corresponding to four negrito populations (two Aeta and two Agta; n = 120) from the Luzon region of the Philippines have been analyzed. These data comprise mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) hypervariable segment 1 haplotypes and haplogroups, Y-chromosome haplogroups and short tandem repeats (STRs), autosomal STRs, and X-chromosome STRs.
    [Show full text]
  • Hitler's American Model
    Hitler’s American Model The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law James Q. Whitman Princeton University Press Princeton and Oxford 1 Introduction This jurisprudence would suit us perfectly, with a single exception. Over there they have in mind, practically speaking, only coloreds and half-coloreds, which includes mestizos and mulattoes; but the Jews, who are also of interest to us, are not reckoned among the coloreds. —Roland Freisler, June 5, 1934 On June 5, 1934, about a year and a half after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of the Reich, the leading lawyers of Nazi Germany gathered at a meeting to plan what would become the Nuremberg Laws, the notorious anti-Jewish legislation of the Nazi race regime. The meeting was chaired by Franz Gürtner, the Reich Minister of Justice, and attended by officials who in the coming years would play central roles in the persecution of Germany’s Jews. Among those present was Bernhard Lösener, one of the principal draftsmen of the Nuremberg Laws; and the terrifying Roland Freisler, later President of the Nazi People’s Court and a man whose name has endured as a byword for twentieth-century judicial savagery. The meeting was an important one, and a stenographer was present to record a verbatim transcript, to be preserved by the ever-diligent Nazi bureaucracy as a record of a crucial moment in the creation of the new race regime. That transcript reveals the startling fact that is my point of departure in this study: the meeting involved detailed and lengthy discussions of the law of the United States.
    [Show full text]
  • Volume Xxiii
    ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOLUME XXIII NEW YORK PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES 1925 Editor CLARK WISSLER FOREWORD Louis ROBERT SULLIVAN Since this volume is largely the work of the late Louis Robert Sulli- van, a biographical sketch of this able anthropologist, will seem a fitting foreword. Louis Robert Sullivan was born at Houlton, Maine, May 21, 1892. He was educated in the public schools of Houlton and was graduated from Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, in 1914. During the following academic year he taught in a high school and on November 24, 1915, he married Bessie Pearl Pathers of Lewiston, Maine. He entered Brown University as a graduate student and was assistant in zoology under Professor H. E. Walters, and in 1916 received the degree of master of arts. From Brown University Mr. Sullivan came to the American Mu- seum of Natural History, as assistant in physical anthropology, and during the first years of his connection with the Museum he laid the foundations for his future work in human biology, by training in general anatomy with Doctor William K. Gregory and Professor George S. Huntington and in general anthropology with Professor Franz Boas. From the very beginning, he showed an aptitude for research and he had not been long at the Museum ere he had published several important papers. These activities were interrupted by our entrance into the World War. Mr. Sullivan was appointed a First Lieutenant in the Section of Anthropology, Surgeon-General's Office in 1918, and while on duty at headquarters asisted in the compilation of the reports on Defects found in Drafted Men and Army Anthropology.
    [Show full text]
  • Performing Blackness in the Danza De Caporales
    Roper, Danielle. 2019. Blackface at the Andean Fiesta: Performing Blackness in the Danza de Caporales. Latin American Research Review 54(2), pp. 381–397. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25222/larr.300 OTHER ARTS AND HUMANITIES Blackface at the Andean Fiesta: Performing Blackness in the Danza de Caporales Danielle Roper University of Chicago, US [email protected] This study assesses the deployment of blackface in a performance of the Danza de Caporales at La Fiesta de la Virgen de la Candelaria in Puno, Peru, by the performance troupe Sambos Illimani con Sentimiento y Devoción. Since blackface is so widely associated with the nineteenth- century US blackface minstrel tradition, this article develops the concept of “hemispheric blackface” to expand common understandings of the form. It historicizes Sambos’ deployment of blackface within an Andean performance tradition known as the Tundique, and then traces the way multiple hemispheric performance traditions can converge in a single blackface act. It underscores the amorphous nature of blackface itself and critically assesses its role in producing anti-blackness in the performance. Este ensayo analiza el uso de “blackface” (literalmente, cara negra: término que designa el uso de maquillaje negro cubriendo un rostro de piel más pálida) en la Danza de Caporales puesta en escena por el grupo Sambos Illimani con Sentimiento y Devoción que tuvo lugar en la fiesta de la Virgen de la Candelaria en Puno, Perú. Ya que el “blackface” es frecuentemente asociado a una tradición estadounidense del siglo XIX, este artículo desarrolla el concepto de “hemispheric blackface” (cara-negra hemisférica) para dar cuenta de elementos comunes en este género escénico.
    [Show full text]
  • Eugenics, Pt. 2
    Eugenics, Pt. 2 8.31 Lecture - LPS 60 Review: Eugenicists claim to be supported by which two scientific theories? Scientific theory Application by Eugenicists Natural Selection -----------> Darwinian Morality (“Might makes right”) Hard Heredity ------------> Genetically-determined Social fitness Review: Eugenicists claim to be supported by which two scientific theories? Scientific theory Application by Eugenicists Natural Selection -----------> Darwinian Morality (“Might makes right”) Hard Heredity ------------> Genetically-determined Social fitness 1. Darwinian Morality “One of the effects of civilization is to diminish the rigour of the application of the law of natural selection. It preserves weakly lives that would have perished in barbarous lands.” “The question was then forced upon me: Could not the race of men be similarly improved? Could not the undesirables be got rid of and the desirables multiplied?” - Francis Galton, "Hereditary Talent and Character" in MacMillan's Magazine Vol. XII (May - October 1865). London Poster, 1910s 2. Genetically-determined social fitness The following groups are deemed socially ‘unfit’: epileptics, depressed, poor (paupers), criminals, alcoholics, blind, deformed, deaf, feeble-minded Galton (1869) focuses on intelligence. Laughlin (1922) includes all of these groups and more under the label “socially inadequate”. London Poster, 1910s “Eugenics...is capable of becoming the most sacred ideal of the human race, as a race; one of the supreme religious duties… Once the full implications of evolutionary biology are grasped, eugenics will inevitably become part of the religion of the future” - Julian Huxley, Eugenics Review (28:1), 1936 Huxley was a biology professor at King’s College London & the Royal Institution as well as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London; he’s said to be the founder of the “modern evolutionary synthesis”.
    [Show full text]