HISC 116 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Arithmetic Progression, Geometric Progression, Eugenics
Document Summary
Reverend thomas robert malthus: principle of populations. Francis galton applied the theory of natural selection to human populations, coined the term eugenics to describe his philosophy: american eugenics, negative and positive. Talking about getting rid of the unfit, saying that selected parents will have better children. We could breed out the unfitness in 3 generations : darwin didn"t want to apply it to man. Said that we work to eliminate or curtail natural selection for humans, because medical doctors save lives and we help the sick survive, vaccinations help, etc. Darwin"s prophecy: if we were to intentionally neglect the weak and helpless, it could only be for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil. Might do some good to use eugenics to weed out the weak and helpless, but humans can"t do that; an overwhelming evil if we succumb to it.
