Example research essay topic: 20 Th Century Origin Of Species - 1,664 words

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Eugenics On the Origin of Species, by Darwin, is a scientific abstract about revolutionary ideas on evolution and the diversity of species from the evolutionary process. This book was originally a personal journal while Darwin was touring onboard the ship H. M. S. Beagle as the naturalist. The ship sailed along the west coast of South America and stopped by islands that were later called the Galapagos Islands.

Darwin discovered new sub-divisions of species that were on mainland South America and started hypothesizing on how so many different kinds of sub-divisions could occur. He eventually formed the journal into an informal scientific abstract and let colleagues, who later urged Darwin to publish the abstract, read and critique his ideas. The book was published in 1859 and within fifteen years of the publication the majority of the scientific community accepted Darwin's ideas as fact. Darwin wrote on his ideas that included new insights on the processes of evolution, gradualism, population speciation, common descent, and natural selection. Natural selection is probably the most unique and radical idea about which Darwin wrote, but his other insights were also to play an important role in how the scientific community would view evolution and heredity from that period onward. In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin presented his idea that species evolve from more primitive species through the process of natural selection, which occurs spontaneously in nature.

In his theory of how natural selection occurs, known as Darwinism, he pointed out that not all individuals of a species are exactly the same. But, rather that individuals have variations and that some of these variations make their bearers better adapted to particular ecological conditions. He pointed out that most species have more chances of surviving and producing young than do less adapted, and that over the passage of time, are slowly weeded out. The accumulation of adaptations to a particular ecological system leads into the development of separate species, each adapted to its own ecological area. In 1837, Darwin began work on the concept that evolution is essentially brought about by three principles.

The first being variation which is present in all life forms. However, he did not attempt to define it. The second principle is heredity, the conservative force which transmits similar organic forms from one generation to another (2: 57). Lastly, the struggle for existence determines which variations will survive in a given environment, thus altering life through a selective death rate (2: 57 - 58). He concluded that with all three factors combined that life will alter slowly and unnoticeably. Francis Galton, cousin of Charles Darwin, first used the term Eugenics in his book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Development published in 1883.

The word Eugenics is described as the science of improving the population by controlled breeding for desirable inherited characteristics and comes from the Greek for good breeding or good life. Although Galton initially studied medicine, he later chose to study mathematics and he also became a fervent advocate of social policies which encouraged supposedly superior beings to have children and discouraged lesser people from doing so. Galton first became interested in Eugenics after reading Darwin's The Origin of Species. In the book, successful breeding is judged by the number of offspring an organism produces.

However, based on this theory, it seemed to Galton that it was the inferior people who had the largest amount of offspring and he thought that this seemed to spoil and not improve our breed. Galton wrote two books- Hereditary Genius (1869) and Natural Inheritance (1889). He examined the family trees of various families of importance and recorded the occurrence of men appearing in the same lines. Galton never even thought about the fact that social opportunities were more readily available to the upper class- he just presumed that genius was passed on through genes. Galton was not just merely interested in the subject though. He wholeheartedly believed that there should be a system put in place to eradicate, what was is his mind, the inferior race.

He proposed that a register of suitable families should be made so that the superior offspring could marry and reproduce and even went as far to suggest a financial incentive should be offered to help create a worthier race. In previous decades there was a large shift in population as people migrated into the countryside. This was believed to have reduced the negative effects of crowded city life on peoples health and mentality etc. however, towards the end of the century these migrations became less common and people feared that the lower classes would settle and breed, re-opening the previous fears / problems . The main concerns for the Eugenicists were a group referred to as the residuum.

They were a nineteenth century version of the underclass that was thought to have been a product of industrialization. They were described as dangerous, work-shy, drunken and riotous. They were also blamed for Britains failure to maintain its economic supremacy and the lack of recruits entering the army. What the Eugenicists found most disturbing was that the condition was though to be inheritable. As a solution, The Eugenic Society suggested segregation of the mentally defective, alcoholics and chronic poor into institutions to prevent them from breeding and this was not seen as extreme.

Because the Eugenicists believed that the residuum were a hereditary group they argued that controlling them through scientific methods was a more modernized version of natural selection and they thought they would be making a breakthrough by using artificial selection. Surprisingly, the Governments were not totally adverse to this. For example, in 1913 the Mental Deficiency Act allowed the compulsory detention of defectives in whose case it is desirable in the interests of the community that they be deprived of the opportunity for procreating children. Although he made contributions to many fields of knowledge, eugenics remained Galton's fundamental interest, and he devoted the latter part of his life chiefly to propagating the idea of improving the physical and mental makeup of the human species by selective parenthood. Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, was among the first to recognize the implications for mankind of Darwin's theory of evolution. He saw that it invalidated much of contemporary theology and that it also opened possibilities for planned human betterment.

Galton coined the word eugenics to denote scientific endeavors to increase the proportion of persons with better than average genetic endowment through selective mating of marriage partners. In his Hereditary Genius (1869), in which he used the word genius to denote an ability that was exceptionally high and at the same time inborn, his main argument was that mental and physical features are equally inherited a proposition that was not accepted at the time. It is surprising that when Darwin first read this book, he wrote to the author: You have made a convert of an opponent in one sense for I have always maintained that, excepting fools, men did not differ much in intellect, only in zeal and hard work. This book doubtless helped Darwin to extend his evolution theory to man. Galton, unmentioned in Origin of Species (1859), is several times quoted in Darwin's Descent of Man (1871). Galton's conviction that mental traits are no less inherited than are physical characteristics was strong enough to shape his personal religious philosophy.

We cannot doubt, he wrote, the existence of a great power ready to hand and capable of being directed with vast benefit as soon as we have learned to understand and apply it. Galton's Inquiries into Human Faculty (1883) consists of some 40 articles varying in length from 2 to 30 pages, which are mostly based on scientific papers written between 1869 and 1883. The book can in a sense be regarded as a summary of the author's views on the faculties of man. On all his topics, Galton has something original and interesting to say, and he says it with clarity, brevity, distinction, and modesty. Under the terms of his will, a eugenics chair was established at the University of London.

In the 20 th century Galton's name has been mainly associated with eugenics. Insofar as eugenics takes primary account of inborn differences between human beings, it has come under the suspicion of those who hold that cultural (social and educational) factors heavily outweigh inborn, or biological, factors in their contribution to human differences. Eugenics is accordingly often treated as an expression of class prejudice, and Galton as a reactionary. Yet to some extent this view misrepresents his thought, for his aim was not the creation of an aristocratic elite but of a population consisting entirely of superior men and women. His ideas, like those of Darwin, were limited by a lack of an adequate theory of inheritance; the rediscovery of the work of Mendel came too late to affect Galton's contribution in any significant way. What a few people think about eugenics is not necessarily what everybody else thinks about it.

The reason for saying this is because from the mid 20 th century up to the present, geneticists have been doing genetic testing. One main question that will be addressed is how we have as Americans and other societies of the world tried to control the science of improving the human stock for social and political reasons since 1865. To answer this question I guess we will have to start at the beginning. Eugenics was probably really started when Alfred Binet came up with the intelligence test in France. The test was made up of a series of short tasks that were in some way related to everyday problems. The hardest task that was successfully completed was associated to a persons mental age.

There were however some concerns that Binet had because of the test. Some of these concerns were: it distinguished between natural knowledge and instruction and he worried about self-fulfilling prophecies. He intended for the test to be used for good to identify children to help and improve...

Research essay sample on 20 Th Century Origin Of Species