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The Gentle Darwinians - What Darwin’s Champions Won’t Mention
Commonweal ^ | March 9, 2007 | Peter Quinn

Posted on 03/08/2007 7:46:04 PM PST by ofwaihhbtn

The enthusiasm Nietzsche expresses in this passage is for eugenics, a theory of biological determinism invented by Francis Galton, Charles Darwin’s first cousin. However extreme Nietzsche’s recommendation might sound today, by the first part of the twentieth century eugenics came to be widely practiced. In 1933, little more than thirty years after Nietzsche’s death, the Hereditary Health Courts set up in Nazi Germany were enforcing a rigorous policy of enforced sterilization; to a lesser degree, similar policies were carried out in societies from the United States to Scandinavia.

In 1912, in his presidential address to the First International Congress of Eugenics, a landmark gathering in London of racial biologists from Germany, the United States, and other parts of the world, Major Leonard Darwin, Charles Darwin’s son, trumpeted the spread of eugenics and evolution. As described by Nicholas Wright Gillham in his A Life of Francis Galton, Major Darwin foresaw the day when “eugenics would become not only a grail, a substitute for religion, as Galton had hoped, but a ‘paramount duty’ whose tenets would presumably become enforceable.” The major repeated his father’s admonition that, though the crudest workings of natural selection must be mitigated by “the spirit of civilization,” society must encourage breeding among the best stock and prevent it among the worst “without further delay.”

Leonard Darwin’s recognition of his father’s role in the formation and promotion of eugenics was more than filial piety.

The full text of the article is here: The Gentle Darwinians - What Darwin’s Champions Won’t Mention

(Excerpt) Read more at commonwealmagazine.org ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: atheistcontrolfreaks; darwin; eugenics; evolution; moralabsolutes
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To: dr_lew

clever


41 posted on 03/08/2007 11:23:49 PM PST by RunningWolf (2-1 Cav 1975)
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To: RunningWolf

Clever? The term seems to imply some sort of illegitimacy to my argument. What about blind cave creatures? Do you think they have become blind over generations due to genetic regression? Or do you think an Intelligent Designer made them that way? If they did become blind over generations, is that evolution? I think these are hard questions!

BTW, did you see the 2 hour History Channel show aired tonight on the Spartan "300" ? They covered the Spartan practice of "exposure" of the newborn, and further stated ( which I hadn't known ) that each newborn would be carefully examined for defects by an elder, and disposed of accordingly. Not precisely a eugenically motivated program, but effectively a brutal version of one.


42 posted on 03/08/2007 11:47:35 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: dr_lew
No I did not mean it that way, but more to that later.

I have not seen the show. I think infanticide happened back then and earlier.
43 posted on 03/08/2007 11:58:37 PM PST by RunningWolf (2-1 Cav 1975)
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To: dr_lew

Dr_Lew...here is an article from Wikipedia, about eugenics...in the paragraph I have copied here, it makes mention of this Spartan practice of exposure of newborns...I know that many people do not like Wikipedia as the end source, so I am using Wikipedia as a starting point, as a place in which to begin looking at the subject of eugenics, and going on from there...anyway, here is the paragraph I am talking about, with a link...one can then go into further study on the subject if one wishes...

'Pre-Galton eugenics
Selective breeding was suggested at least as far back as Plato, who believed human reproduction should be controlled by government. He recorded these ideals in The Republic: "The best men must have intercourse with the best women as frequently as possible, and the opposite is true of the very inferior." Plato proposed that the process be concealed from the public via a form of lottery. Other ancient examples include Sparta's purported practice of infanticide. However, they would leave all babies outside for a length of time, and the survivors were considered stronger, while many "weaker" babies perished.[citation needed]'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugenics


44 posted on 03/09/2007 12:02:53 AM PST by andysandmikesmom
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To: dr_lew

Infanticide might have happened, but history shows that eugenics and/or eugenically motivated programs don't work.


45 posted on 03/09/2007 12:08:32 AM PST by RunningWolf (2-1 Cav 1975)
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To: Jeff Gordon

"According to RussP:
A=B therefor C=D."

How long did it take you to pull that one out of your rear end? Give me a clue where I said anything even remotely resembling that.

You guys are a waste of my time.


46 posted on 03/09/2007 12:10:15 AM PST by RussP
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To: RunningWolf

I don't think history shows that. It shows that no eugenic program has ever been practiced widely enough and long enough to show results, unless one might care to admit that the Spartan stock did improve wrt physical endurance and strength.

The issue is uncontroversial in favor of eugenics in the case of domestic animals, and in fact Darwin leads off his treatise with a discussion of animal breeding. Do you want to maintain that humans are exempt from any such treatment? On what basis?


47 posted on 03/09/2007 12:29:34 AM PST by dr_lew
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To: RussP
You guys are a waste of my time.

Why do you waste your precious time here?

48 posted on 03/09/2007 12:35:17 AM PST by Jeff Gordon (History convinces me that bad government results from too much government. - Thomas Jefferson)
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To: dr_lew
Well show the courage of your convictions then!

You said your eyes were not good now, what shall be done with you dr_lew?

The Obsolete Man

In a totalitarian society, Romney Wordsworth is condemned to death for the crime of being a librarian, and he is subjected to the harangues of the state's Chancellor and his lectures about Wordsworth's obsolescence.
49 posted on 03/09/2007 12:41:01 AM PST by RunningWolf (2-1 Cav 1975)
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To: RunningWolf
I think your question illustrates the confusion between objective description and moral prescription. I don't advocate eugenics by any means, and I think you could just as easily go the other way and advocate against the breeding of animals. It's easy to feel this way in the face of various overbred breeds of toy dogs, e.g., but whaddaygonnado?

I think these issues are addressed in Genesis, where it is stated that we have eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and good and evil, and hence been expelled from Eden. It's the perfect statement of our existential dilemma in this regard.

BTW, I just had my right eye "done" yesterday, after my left eye two weeks ago, with lens implant cataract surgery, with marvelous results, and for which I give thanks, as the Japanese say, "to you, to God, and everybody." ... with particular mention to Doctor Sandor!
50 posted on 03/09/2007 1:13:43 AM PST by dr_lew
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To: andysandmikesmom
I know that many people do not like Wikipedia as the end source,

Well there is now an alternative

Eugenics
From Conservapedia

Eugenics is the practise of improving or altering a race through selective breeding. The Nazis were in favour of eugenics, and Richard Dawkins has recently called for society's negative view of it to be questioned. Eugenics is proof that scientists who are Darwinists should be carefully watched.

Retrieved from http://www.conservapedia.com/Eugenics

Yep no bias there

51 posted on 03/09/2007 2:50:43 AM PST by Oztrich Boy ( for those in Rio Linda, there's conservapedia)
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To: RussP

Marxist philosophy gave rise to totalitarian governments.

Those governments killed more people it the last century than any other entity in history.

Marxism is defended by people who believe there is no inevitable logical connection between Marxism and totalitarianism.

Evolutionism is defended by people who believe there is no inevitable logical connection between evolutionism and racism.


52 posted on 03/09/2007 3:18:45 AM PST by UnChained (Let's all vote for Hillary and get this country over with.)
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To: Central Scrutiniser
I suggest we all chip in and buy RussP a big bran muffin. Sounds like he could use one. You in?
53 posted on 03/09/2007 3:39:32 AM PST by LiberationIT
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To: RussP
Eugenics was basically a fancy term for racist and bigoted bastards that essentially wanted to control and manipulate human breeding to fit their personal, revolting concept of what people should be. That is not evolution. It is an attempt to reduce humans to farm animals with the correct pedigree, which is the antithesis of evolution.

You people who try so hard to make the 'evolution = eugenics' connection are just creating your own circle-jerk of mutually accepted nonsense, thereby making more and more posts on FR look like they are from kooks.

54 posted on 03/09/2007 5:29:47 AM PST by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: Oztrich Boy

Right from Conservapedia, the best source for an alternative to reality.


55 posted on 03/09/2007 5:36:12 AM PST by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: UnChained

Did you stay up all night to come up with that or does writing falshoods come naturally to you?


56 posted on 03/09/2007 5:38:29 AM PST by doc30 (Democrats are to morals what an Etch-A-Sketch is to Art.)
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To: RussP

Reductio ad Absurdum


Which makes it all the more ironic.


57 posted on 03/09/2007 6:13:45 AM PST by Central Scrutiniser (Never Let a Theocon Near a Textbook. Teach Evolution!)
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To: WorkingClassFilth
Bottom dollar says Peter Singer subscribes to evolutionary theory.

Bottom dollar every Islamic suicide bomber subscribes to creationism.

Bottom dollar Andrea Yates subscribes to creationism.

Bottom dollar the veritable army of rapists and pedophiles listed here subscribe to creationism.

Bottom dollar Jim Jones subscribed to creationism.

Bottom dollar every two-bit television con-man holding himself out as the "one true collection plate for God" subscribes to creationism.

Etc., etc., etc. . . .

58 posted on 03/09/2007 6:43:22 AM PST by atlaw
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To: Oztrich Boy

From this Conservapedia site...

'Eugenics is proof that scientists who are Darwinists should be carefully watched.'

Sigh...yes, Conservapedia is an alternative, and a poor one at that...are they paranoid about other things as well?....I will have to look over this alternative site, and see what other goodies they have...thanks for that link...


59 posted on 03/09/2007 8:28:25 AM PST by andysandmikesmom
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To: UnChained
Christianity gave rise to Liberation Theology.

Liberation Theology gives rise to Marxism.

Marxist philosophy gave rise to totalitarian governments.

Those governments killed more people it the last century than any other entity in history.

Christianity is defended by people who believe there is no inevitable logical connection between Marxism and totalitarianism.

60 posted on 03/09/2007 8:39:38 AM PST by js1138 (The absolute seriousness of someone who is terminally deluded.)
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