In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin wove the basic eugenic philosophy of Plato into the theory of natural selection:
“[E]xtinction and natural selection go hand in hand”
Ancient civilizations, including Rome, Athens, and Sparta, practiced what has become known as eugenics to ensure only the strongest survived.
To the point, “extinction” appears 74 times in the sixth edition, while “evolution” is not once. Encouraged by his brother, Erasmus, Charles Darwin read An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Robert Malthus, an English political economist in 1838. Darwin recalls in his autobiography the sentinel moments:
“In October 1838 … I happened to read for amusement Malthus On Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animal and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here, then, I had at last got a theory by which to work.”
The origin of natural selection theory was rooted in the struggle for existence—a behavioral science. As Darwin explains, “This is the doctrine of Malthus … [that] many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and … consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence.” Extinction was the foundation of Darwin’s theory of natural selection:
“Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less improved forms… from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.”
Sir Francis Galton, Darwin’s cousin after reading The Origin of Species, extended Darwin's concept of natural selection. After sketching out his theory in the 1865 article "Hereditary Talent and Character," Galton further developed the basic concept of eugenics in his 1869 book Hereditary Genius.
Galton reasoned, like Darwin, artificial selection in animals would produce similar results in humans. In the introduction to Hereditary Genius, Galton wrote -
“to obtain by careful selection a permanent breed of dogs or horses gifted with peculiar powers of running, or of doing anything else, so it would be quite practicable to produce a highly-gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations.”
By 1883, Galton coined the term ‘eugenics’ [Greek: εύ (eu) meaning ‘well’ and γένος (genos) meaning ‘kind’ or ‘offspring’] for the study of ways of improving the physical and mental characteristics “a highly-gifted race of men.”
Galton’s eugenics movement operationalized Darwin’s view to preserve favored races. The complete title of The Origin of Species is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
“[E]xtinction and natural selection go hand in hand”
Ancient civilizations, including Rome, Athens, and Sparta, practiced what has become known as eugenics to ensure only the strongest survived.
To the point, “extinction” appears 74 times in the sixth edition, while “evolution” is not once. Encouraged by his brother, Erasmus, Charles Darwin read An Essay on the Principle of Population by Thomas Robert Malthus, an English political economist in 1838. Darwin recalls in his autobiography the sentinel moments:
“In October 1838 … I happened to read for amusement Malthus On Population, and being well prepared to appreciate the struggle for existence which everywhere goes on from long-continued observation of the habits of animal and plants, it at once struck me that under these circumstances favorable variations would tend to be preserved, and unfavorable ones to be destroyed. The result of this would be the formation of new species. Here, then, I had at last got a theory by which to work.”
The origin of natural selection theory was rooted in the struggle for existence—a behavioral science. As Darwin explains, “This is the doctrine of Malthus … [that] many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and … consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence.” Extinction was the foundation of Darwin’s theory of natural selection:
“Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less improved forms… from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows.”
Sir Francis Galton, Darwin’s cousin after reading The Origin of Species, extended Darwin's concept of natural selection. After sketching out his theory in the 1865 article "Hereditary Talent and Character," Galton further developed the basic concept of eugenics in his 1869 book Hereditary Genius.
Galton reasoned, like Darwin, artificial selection in animals would produce similar results in humans. In the introduction to Hereditary Genius, Galton wrote -
“to obtain by careful selection a permanent breed of dogs or horses gifted with peculiar powers of running, or of doing anything else, so it would be quite practicable to produce a highly-gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations.”
By 1883, Galton coined the term ‘eugenics’ [Greek: εύ (eu) meaning ‘well’ and γένος (genos) meaning ‘kind’ or ‘offspring’] for the study of ways of improving the physical and mental characteristics “a highly-gifted race of men.”
Galton’s eugenics movement operationalized Darwin’s view to preserve favored races. The complete title of The Origin of Species is On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
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