Search results for " Eugenic"

A prenatal case of inverted duplication with terminal deletion of 5p not including the cat-like cry critical region

2010

Wesley Clair Mitchell and the “Illiberal Reformers”: A Documentary Note

2021

In this note we inquire whether Mitchell as a reformer ever expressed concern over the biological quality of individuals and whether he did somehow share the Progressive Era faith in eugenics as an instrument for improving American society’s health, welfare, and morals. This is an aspect of Mitchell’s thought that has received scant attention in the literature and that projects him into the current debate on progressivism.

EUGENICS AND SOCIALIST THOUGHT IN THE PROGRESSIVE ERA: THE CASE OF JAMES MEDBERY MACKAYE

2018

The aim of this essay is to assess James Medbery MacKaye’s contribution to socialist thought during the Progressive Era. Largely forgotten today, MacKaye proposed a special version of socialism, which he called “Pantocracy,” based on a peculiar blend of utilitarian and eugenic assumptions. Specifically, MacKaye held that biological fitness mapped to the capacity for happiness—biologically superior individuals possess a greater capacity for happiness—and saw the eugenic breeding of “a being or race of beings capable in the first place of happiness” as a possibility open by the advent of Pantocracy. Incidentally, this essay provides further evidence that the influence of eugenic and racialist…

Jürgen Habermas and the risk of liberal eugenics for the ethical self-understanding of species

2016

El artículo analiza el problema de la naturaleza humana que presenta Jürgen Habermas en su obra El futuro de la naturaleza humana, ¿Hacia una eugenesia liberal? Los vertiginosos avances biotecnológicos reclaman una rigurosa reflexión bioética que el filósofo alemán afronta superponiendo a su ética del discurso una ética de la especie. Habermas esboza un modelo de naturaleza humana construido sobre preceptos como la dignidad humana y de la vida humana, la simetría de las relaciones intersubjetivas y, a resultas de estas, la autocomprensión ética de la especie. Respecto a la eugenesia liberal, el autor se posiciona criticando la eugenesia positiva y amparando la negativa, para lo que basa su …

The Assassination of Lieutenant Joe Petrosino: A Contested Symbol in the Mainstream and Italian-American Press in the Early 20th Century

2023

Recently, scholars have looked at the ethnic press through a social constructionist lens, examining the process through which immigrants developed a sense of identity and the role of print culture in forming “imagined communities” (Anderson). Here, I analyze the coverage of the 1909 assassination of police Lieutenant Petrosino in both mainstream and Italian-American press and popular culture. This shocking event ignited a debate over the nature and origin of the Mafia and the dangerousness of the Italian community, a debate involving discourses of racial difference, immigration restriction, and the capability of Italians to assimilate. This debate became an important arena in which Italian …

Is it wrong to deliberately conceive or give birth to a child with mental retardation?

2002

This paper discusses the issues of deciding to have a child with mental retardation, and of terminating a pregnancy when the future child is known to have the same disability. I discuss these problems by criticizing a utilitarian argument, namely, that one should act in a way that results in less suffering and less limited opportunity in the world. My argument is that future parents ought to assume a strong responsibility towards the well-being of their prospective children when they decide to reproduce. The moral point in cases in which our acts affect the well-being of future children should be expressed strictly in terms of parents' culpability. Future children thus do not have current m…

Eugenesia y autoría moral. Lectura de una tesis habermasiana

2017

El objetivo de esta comunicación es ahondar en la visión que ha mantenido Jürgen Habermas a propósito de la manipulación genética; en concreto, se pretende abordar críticamente su hipótesis de una pérdida de autoría del sujeto manipulado. A juicio del autor, la intervención genética positiva —aquélla que tiene por objeto la introducción de virtuales mejoras en el sujeto— alcanzaría a violar la conciencia de autoría de dicho sujeto, así como su autocomprensión en tanto agente moral. En este sentido, se pretende investigar críticamente dos aspectos diferentes de la cuestión: en primer lugar, la corrección o no de la tesis habermasiana; en segundo lugar, la pertinencia o no de dicha tesis a la…