Department of Philosophy

Georgetown University
Spring Semester 1995
Wednesdays, 10:00 am-12:30 pm

Instructor: LeRoy Walters

Office Telephone: 687-6771
Office Hours: Tuesdays, 2:003:30 pm, or by appointment

EUGENICS AND ETHICS

Philosophy 514

In this new course we will study and evaluate two eugenic programs carried out during
the twentieth century. The first is the eugenic sterilization program implemented in numerous
states of the United States, especially during the years between 1905 and 1940. The second is the
program of "racial hygiene" undertaken by the National Socialists in Germany, especially
between 1933 and 1945. We will read primary sources and secondary analyses pertinent to both
of these programs. Second, we will read and critically analyze selected works of two eugenists,
Sir Francis Galton (1822-1911), the founder of modem eugenics, and H.J. Muller (1890-1967), a
distinguished classical geneticist and a proponent of human genetic improvement through
voluntary germinal choice. Finally, we will explore the question whether eugenic ideas or
programs are becoming more prevalent in U.S. scientific and social thought in the 1990s.

OVERVIEW OF CLASS SESSIONS

Class 1 (January 18): Introduction to the Course
Class 2 (January 25): Francis Galton and the Origins of Eugenics
Class 3 (February 1): Eugenics in Great Britain and the United States I
Class 4 (February 8): Eugenics in Great Britain and the United States II
Class 5 (February 15): The Legacy of Hermann J. Muller
Class 6 (February 22): Involuntary Sterilization in the United States I
Class 7 (March 1):

Involuntary Sterilization in the United States II

Spring Break
Class 8 (March 15): Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: U.S. Perspectives I
Class 9 (March 22): Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: U.S. Perspectives II

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Class 10 (March 29): Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: German
Perspectives I
Class 11 (April 5):

Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: German

Perspectives II

Class 12 (April 12):

Site Visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum

Class 13 (April 19):

Connections between the U.S. and German Eugenics Movements

Class 14 (April 26):

Eugenics and th~ 1990s I

Class 15 (May 3):

Eugenics and the 1990s II

TEXTBOOKS
Aly, Gtz, et al. Cleansing the Fatherland: Nazi Medicine and Racial Hygiene. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994. Cited as Aly, et al., Cleansing the Fatherland.
Kevles, Daniel J. In the Name of Eugenics: Genetics and the Uses of Human Heredity. Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1986. Cited as Kevles, In the Name.
Khl, Stefan. The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National
Socialism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. Cited as Khl, Nazi Connection.
Proctor, Robert. Racial Hygiene: Medicine under the Nazis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press, 1988. Cited as Proctor, Racial Hygiene.
Reilly, Philip R. The Surgical Solution: A History of Involuntary Sterilization in the United
States. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991. Cited as Reilly, Surgical Solution.

READINGS
Class 1 (January 18): Introduction to the Course
Class 2 (January 25): Francis Galton and the Origins of Eugenics
Francis Galton, Essays in Eugenics (London: The Eugenics Education Press, 1909),
pp. 1-34,35-43,60-67,100-109.
Francis Galton, Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development (2nd ed.; London:
J.M. Dent & Sons, 1907), pp. 1-23.

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Kevles, In the Name, Chap. I.
Class 3 (February 1): Eugenics in Great Britain and the United States I
Kevles, In the Name, Chaps. II-XII.
Class 4 (February 8): Eugenics in Great Britain and the United States II
Kevles, In the Name, Chaps. XIII-XIX.
Class 5 (February 15):

The Legacy of Hermann J. Muller

H.J. Muller, Out of the Night: A Biologist's View of the Future (New York: Vanguard
Press, 1935), pp. v-x, 1-127.
F.A.E. Crew, et al., "Social Biology and Population Improvement," Nature 144(3646):
521-522; 16 September 1939.
Hermann J. Muller, "The Guidance of Human Evolution," Perspectives in Biology and
Medicine 3(1): 1-43; Autumn 1959.
Elof Axel Carlson, "Eugenics," chapter 28 in his Genes, Radiation, and Society: The
Life and Work of H.J. Muller (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1981).
Class 6 (February 22):

Involuntary Sterilization in the United States I

Reilly, Surgical Solution, pp. 1-87.

Henry Herbert Goddard, The Kallikak Family: A Study in the Heredity of FeebleMindedness (New York: Macmillan, 1927), pp. vii-xi, 1-69, 101-117.
United States, Supreme Court, Buck v. Bell (decided May 2, 1927), United States Reports
274: 1000-1002.
Class 7 (March 1):

Involuntary Sterilization in the United States II

Reilly, Surgical Solution, pp. 88-165.

Abraham Myerson, et al., Eugenical Sterilization: A Reorientation of the Problem
(New York: Macmillan, 1936), pp. 1-6, 59-80, 170-183.
Stephen Jay Gould, "Carrie Buck's Daughter," in his The Flamingo's Smile: Reflections
in Natural History (New York: W.W. Norton, 1985), pp. 306-318.

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Spring Break
Class 8 (March 15):

Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: U.S. Perspectives I

Proctor, Racial Hygiene, pp. vii-viii, 1-176.

Class 9 (March 22):

Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: U.S. Perspectives III

Proctor, Racial Hygiene, pp. 177-312.

Robert Jay Lifton, "Sterilization and the Nazi Biomedical Vision," in his The Nazi
Doctors (New York: Basic Books, 1986), pp. 22-33.
Class 10 (March 29): Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: German Perspectives I
Aly, et al., Cleansing the Fatherland, pp. vii-xvi, 1-155.
Class 11 (April 5):

Racial Hygiene under German National Socialism: German Perspectives II

Aly, et al., Cleansing the Fatherland, pp. 156-295.

Class 12 (April 12):

Site Visit to the U.S. Holocaust Museum

No new readings; please work on term paper.

Class 13 (April 19):

Connections between the U.S. and German Eugenics Movements

Khl, The Nazi Connection, pp. vii-ix, 1-106.

Class 14 (April 26):

Eugenics and the 1990s I

Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray, The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class
Structure in American Life (New York: Free Press, 1994), pp. 1-24 (Introduction),
25-27,91-113 (chapter 4), 117-125,267,269-315 (chapter 13),317,341-368 (chapter 15),
369, 387-388, 389, 417-418, 447-448, 479-480, 509-552 (chapters 21 and 22).
One review of Herrnstein and Murray's book.
Class 15 (May 3): Eugenics and the 1990s II
Troy Duster, Backdoor to Eugenics (New York: Routledge, Chapman and Hall, 1990),
pp. 112-129.
Robert N. Proctor, "Genomics and Eugenics: How Fair Is the Comparison?" in George J.

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Annas and Sherman Elias, eds., Gene MaQQing: Using Law and Ethics as Guides (New
York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 57-93.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
The first and most important requirement is to complete all of the readings in advance of
each class session and to be prepared to discuss them in class.
All students will also be asked to take part in the site visit to the United States Holocaust
Museum on April 12th.
There will be two papers in the course, a short paper and a fmal term paper. The short
paper may be either a critical review of a book on eugenics or a philosophical paper criticizing an
argument advanced by a commentator on eugenics or advancing a constructive argument of your
own. The short paper is due on Wednesday, March 15th, the first class period after spring break.
The short paper should be between five and ten double-spaced pages long. The final term paper
should be philosophical in character, either analyzing the work of one of our authors or another
commentator on eugenics or advancing and arguing for a position of your own. The final paper
should be between fifteen and twenty-five pages long and is due on Friday, May 12th.
If extraordinary circumstances necessitate the late submission of a paper, please notify the
instructor before the deadline date, so that an alternative deadline can be negotiated.
The components of the course grade will be as follows:
Completion of readings and participation in class discussion: 40 %
Short paper or book review: 20%
Final term paper: 40%.