The Politics of Heredity: Essays on Eugenics, Biomedicine, and the Nature-Nurture Debate (SUNY Series in Philosophy and Biology) (Suny Series, Philosophy & Biology) (Suny Philosophy and Biology)

Explores the political forces underlying shifts in thinking about the respective influence of heredity and environment in shaping human behavior, and the feasibility and morality of eugenics.Note: This copy may not display properly in your e-reader, with all the content mashed into a very narrow column. This Book Explores The Development Of Hybrid Corn, The History Of Eugenics, Human Genetics, The Nature-nurture Debate, The Origins Of The Marxian Concept Of Proletarian Science, The Shift In The Meaning Of Fitness In Evolutionary Theory, The Practice Of Normal Science In Nazi Germany, And The Making And Selling Of Science Textbooks. While The Topics Are Diverse, A Common Theme Unites Them - Each Explores Links Between Biological Science, Social Power, And Public Policy. Introduction -- Eugenics And The Left -- The Nine Lives Of Discredited Data -- The Rockefeller Foundation And The Origins Of Behavior Genetics -- A Debate That Refuses To Die -- Eugenic Anxieties, Social Realities, And Political Choices -- Did Eugenics Rest On An Elementary Mistake? -- Eugenic Origins Of Medical Genetics -- Genes And Contagious Disease : The Rise And Fall Of A Metaphor -- Pku Screening : Competing Agendas, Converging Stories. Diane B. Paul. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Explores the political forces underlying shifts in thinking about the respective influence of heredity and environment in shaping human behavior, and the feasibility and morality of eugenics.The essays collected in The Politics of Heredity explore the political factors underlying shifts in thinking about the role of nature and nurture in shaping human behavior, and about the desirability and feasibility of controlling human reproduction. They ask why many assumptions that were simply taken for granted as late as the 1950s and'60s came to be considered fundamentally mistaken in the 1970s and'80s. They also suggest that some apparent shifts in thinking were not as deep as they may seem, and that changes in rhetoric may obscure the stability of core underlying beliefs.Diane B. Paul is Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Massachusetts at Boston.