Eugenics and the theory of inheritability

Chapter 4 focuses on a more recent period, from the late nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth, when Galton’s eugenics was increasingly recognized and practiced not only by specialized organizations but also by extreme political regimes. The new discipline sought to predict our future life from our genetic endowment at birth. As with astrology versus astronomy, eugenics came to compete with genetics—a product of Mendel’s laws—and we examine how the two disciplines evolved in the early twentieth century. Eugenics became a formidable concept with the advent of fascist and Nazi regimes, which sought to impose the supremacy of certain “races” by eliminating other ethnic groups. World War II ended these regimes, making the promotion of eugenics impossible. However, many former eugenicists such as Osborn continued to pursue the same goals under another label: hereditarianism. We describe the different forms of this theory and show the reasons for their scientific and political failure.