Eugenics: Science as Ideology and Its Consequences

Science Serving Prejudice

Eugenics — the “science” of improving the human race through control of reproduction — is one of the darkest examples of how scientific authority is used to justify ideology.

Francis Galton (1822–1911), Darwin’s cousin, introduced the term and the program: if natural selection improves species, artificial selection is needed to improve humans. Encourage reproduction of the “best” (positive eugenics) and restrict the “worst” (negative eugenics).

The “science” of eugenics had academic status: university departments, journals, international conferences. In the United States, laws mandating forced sterilization of the “feebleminded” were adopted — and the Supreme Court confirmed their constitutionality in 1927. “Three generations of imbeciles are enough,” said Justice Holmes. In total, about 60,000 Americans were sterilized.

Nazi Eugenics and the Holocaust

Nazi Germany took the eugenics program to the extreme: the “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring” (1933) — forced sterilization of 400,000 people. “Action T4” — the murder of 70,000 mentally ill and physically disabled Germans. This directly preceded the Holocaust as a logical step.

After 1945, eugenics was discredited — not only morally but also scientifically. Twentieth-century genetics demonstrated: “races” have no biological basis; complex traits (intelligence, character) are determined by many genes in complex interactions with the environment; “improvement” through selection is biologically meaningless.

Lessons for Today

The history of eugenics is a lesson in how scientific authority can be used to legitimize ideology. “Science says so” is not the end of discussion, but the beginning: what science, funded by whom, with what assumptions, for what purposes?

Modern bioethics arose in part as a response to eugenics: the principles of autonomy, dignity, and “do no harm” were formulated with memory of the Nazi medical crimes. The Nuremberg Medical Trial created the first international research ethics code.

Question for reflection: Today, AI systems make decisions about people based on data. What “eugenic” risks are hidden in algorithms that optimize the “quality” of candidates, credit risks, medical recommendations?