Pros And Cons Of Eugenics

Many centuries later Sir Francis Galton would coin the term “eugenics.” His goal was like Plato’s, to improve human quality. Unlike Plato, however, his work became much more of a reality than The Republic. He also proposed similar aspects that Plato had more than two thousand years prior. He supported couples being paired and married by the government, and for the government to take care of the children’s education (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014). His rationale included that the idea was not new at all. He utilized the example of breeding animals and arranged marriage, citing that these practices were hundreds of years old and had the same reasoning behind them. Many scientists agreed with Galton’s ideas and built their research upon it. With the

Those with learning disabilities could be easily identified and have appropriate measures made. Despite that, results from such tests could also be abused. A classic example is the decreased of immigration allow to the United States from 1905-1913 because immigrants did poorly on such tests. Their cultural and educational circumstances were not seen as being influential because intelligence was seen as an inherited trait, thus leading to the deportation of thousands because their intelligence was a pre-determined factor that could not be changed (Hergenhahn & Henley, 2014). America believed by taking such action that the United States escaped the burden of thousands of mentally deficient people, a belief that was rooted in the idea of

A few years ago I would have stated that I believe in free will, but now I know the answer to that sort of question is not so black and white. Controlling who people mate with logically makes sense. The population would go down, genetic abnormalities would decrease, and sickness would dissipate. On paper the idea looks great for the betterment of society. My issue with taking it to such an extreme, such as completely arranged marriages, is the lack of diversity that would arise. Eventually, everyone would resemble each other and the process would have to start all over again. What is deemed superior today, generations from now would be seen as lackluster and dull. I also would become resentful towards society because I do not think intelligence is the best indicator of whether two people have a loving relationship, and I am a firm believer in people being with who they love no matter what. Not to mention in a society run that way I probably would never have met the man I am with now. Not to say that one of us is more intelligent than the other, just that we are smart in completely different ways. Now with that said, I do empathize with putting certain guidelines in place to have children. It boggles my mind that in order to drive a car, that could potentially kill someone, we have to have a license, but in bringing a new life into a world, all we have to do is make a split-second