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Article: Eugenics
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
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Eugenics
Eugenics is a science that aims to purify the gene pool, especially of humans, by controlling reproduction to assure the birth of offspring with desired traits. The roots of eugenics go back to ancient Greece, where Plato's
Republic
lauds procreation by the best parents. The term
eugenics,
derived from the Greek word
eugenes
(good in birth), was first used in 1883 by the British scientist Francis Galton. Advocates of eugenics sought to counter Charles Darwin's theory of natural evolution with human-controlled outcomes. American biologist Charles Benedict Davenport (1866
–
1944), founded the Eugenics Records Office at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in 1910. Davenport's work ...