Search results for "Eugenic"
showing 10 items of 23 documents
HEREDITARIANISM, EUGENICS, AND AMERICAN SOCIAL SCIENCE IN THE INTERWAR YEARS: MEET THE CARVERIANS
2022
Like other Progressive Era reformers, Thomas Nixon Carver promoted a form of biology-infused social science that included both eugenics and a strong version of hereditarianism. Carver was also a charismatic teacher who trained several generations of economists and sociologists at Harvard. In this paper we will focus on the contribution of three of them: James A. Field, Norman E. Himes, and Carl S. Joslyn. These authors differ in terms of style, method, and emphasis—with Field and Himes more interested in population and birth control issues, and Joslyn in the dynamics of social stratification. As it will be shown below, however, all of them reveal an explicit commitment to hereditarianism an…
Eugenics and American Economics in the Interwar Years: The Case of Thomas Nixon Carver
2017
The aim of this paper is to explore in some detail Carver’s eugenic ideas with a main, albeit non-exclusive, focus on the interwar years. Although his major contributions had all appeared prior to 1918, Carver remained particularly productive throughout the 1920s and 1930s, publishing several articles and eight books, which include The Principles of National Economy (1921), and The Essential Factors of Social Evolution (1935)—two works which contain significant traces of eugenic reasoning. Just as important, Carver’s interwar activities were not limited to academia. After his retirement from Harvard in 1932 he became involved in the activities of the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, while i…
Reforma sexual, control de natalidad, naturismo y pacifismo. La cultura libertaria trasatlántica en las décadas de 1920 y 1930: Estudios. Revista Ecl…
2019
The editors and main collaborators to the influential Spanish libertarian magazine Estudios (Valencia, 1928-1937) showed a permanent interest in connecting the magazine with the main networks of global anarchism in the interwar years, and also with contemporary international campaigns in defense of birth control, eugenics, sexual reform, naturism or pacifism. As its predecessor did—the magazine Generacion Consciente (1923-1928)—, Estudios was linked to well-known militants, writers, scientists and propagandists in general of those ideas and practices in Europe and America. Estudios built networks using the magazine itself, its personal contacts with those individuals, and also an active boo…
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…
Charles Darwin and ideology : rethinking the Darwinian revolution
2016
This short paper critiques the idea of any coherent Darwinian ideology. Charles Darwin himself did not adopt any obvious ideology, except perhaps that of anti-slavery. However, his published work, and that of other evolutionists, led to the emergence of social Darwinism. Herbert Spencer’s role in fostering social Darwinism, and the rise of eugenics, are briefly described. The connection, if any, between the historical figure of Darwin and the social movement that bears his name is discussed. While Darwin’s On the origin of species or The descent of man can hardly account for all the racial stereotyping, nationalism, or political bigotry seen in the half century after his death, there can be…
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…
EUGENICS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND POLITICS IN LATVIA DURING WORLD WAR II: THE INVESTIGATION FILE OF THE MINISTRY OF STATE SECURITY OF THE LATVIAN SSR IN T…
2021
This study, based on the materials of the 1948 investigation of the Ministry of State Security of the Latvian SSR, traces and analyzes the scientific and administrative activities of Theodor Upners (1898-1992) during the Nazi occupation regime in Latvia. From 1942 until the end of the occupation in 1944, Upners was formally the leading eugenics specialist in Latvia. During this time, in 1942 he visited Germany on a scientific trip, gave a course on eugenics at the University of Riga, and in 1943 published the book «The Role of Eugenics in the Life of the Nation and the State». In the 1948 investigation, he was accused of collaborating with the Nazi occupation authorities and glorifying Nazi…
BETWEEN PROGRESSIVISM AND INSTITUTIONALISM: ALBERT BENEDICT WOLFE ON EUGENICS
2013
Albeit concerned with the biological element in social evolution, Albert B. Wolfe was among the very few economists of the progressive era who openly expressed his concerns about certain implications of eugenic rhetoric for the social science. Specifically, Wolfe questioned the strong hereditary boundaries that more extreme eugenicists suggested about human beings. As I will attempt to show in paper, a careful examination of Wolfe’s writings reveals that his reaction was rooted in the belief that many of the social problems which eugenicists attributed to hereditary limitations, were actually imputable to the influence that the social, economic, and physical environment exercised on the ind…
On Simon Nelson Patten’s Progressivism: A note
2020
This article is an attempt to offer an assessment of the main coordinates of Simon Nelson Patten’s views on democracy and biological determinism. This will allow us to better delineate the differences—as well as the affinities—between Patten and the core of progressives discussed by Thomas C. Leonard in a series of path-breaking contributions, culminating in his Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era. It is our contention that even within the persisting intricacies, ambiguities, and contradictions of Patten’s expository style, it is possible to trace a shift in some aspects of his ideas—a gradual evolution that makes his peculiar brand of progress…