Whither Eugenics?

In Newsletter No. 37 of June 2000 the Editor invited answers to this question. In No. 39 we gave thought, sometimes light-heartedly, to the word. At the risk of being tedious it might be useful to remind those interested in eugenics of some of the thoughts in the minds of those politicians, and other men of practical affairs, who are concerned in the long term with the public good. We should probably define our terms rather carefully.

It is helpful, first, to consider objectives. The immediate object of men’s activity, both individually and collectively, is survival. If men do not have the essentials of life, food, shelter and the like, they can do nothing.

Men’s lower intermediate objective is to seek food, shelter and the like in greater abundance and of better quality than is strictly necessary for the mere support of life. Men seek luxury, pleasure, leisure.

Men’s higher intermediate objective is to pursue the best in all the arts and the sciences. Men seek beauty, knowledge, understanding.

Men’s ultimate objective is to leave the earth in the best possible state for the next generation, and to populate it with the most appropriate number of people of the best, the most appropriate, quality.

It is helpful, secondly, to consider the determinants of the extent to which men attain their objectives. In fact, the chief determinant of the extent to which men attain their first three objectives is the extent to which they attain their ultimate objectives. Of these the most important is the quality of the people.

Some of the determinants of attainment are finite. Men cannot alter them. One of these is the area of the surface of the earth.

The extent to which all of the other determinants can be altered depends on the quality of men. For example, the size of the population, the population density, depends on the wisdom of men.

It is helpful, thirdly, to consider the nature of the quality of men. It is traditional to consider three factors: health, intelligence and character.

Without good health men’s attainment will be seriously impaired.

Without good developed intelligence men’s attainment will be low. They need good genetic potential developed by good education.

It is probably useful, in practice, to consider men’s character in two parts: their propensity to apply their potential to practical purposes and their propensity to choose applications that promote the attainment of their fellow men. Let us call these two their application and their virtue.

There are intelligent men who enjoy good health who never seem to do very much. They are idle or trivial. They may lack stamina, resilience in adversity, motivation. They do not apply their good qualities to any practical or useful purpose. They are of poor application and therefore of low attainment.

There are men who enjoy good health, are intelligent and who actively apply these assets to practical ends. However these ends for these men serve only the men themselves: they are selfish people. Although of high application they do not promote the attainment of the society in which they live. The intelligent master criminal is more a character of fiction than of fact: the great majority of criminals are very stupid. However there are healthy, intelligent, active men whose attainment does not greatly benefit mankind. They are too concerned to make money for their shareholders, or, indeed, themselves; too concerned to promote the interests of their political party, or, indeed, themselves; they may even make dreadful weapons, heedless of how they are used. They are men of little virtue. Their attainment, as we have defined it, is low.

These, then, are the definitions that concern those interested to promote eugenics. The man of high biological quality is he who is of high social value: he promotes the attainment of mankind. He enjoys good health, is intelligent, applies his potential and is virtuous.

To be of very high social value he must have all of these qualities in due proportion. There have been men of the very greatest virtue whose attainment has been impaired by poor health, inadequate intelligence or low stamina. Those who hear and resent reference to biological quality or social value do not understand that these terms imply no disparagement of a person’s value in other respects. The fact that, for example, virtue can be enhanced by poor health does not alter this.

The task of eugenics, like that of some other disciplines, is to learn how best to promote attainment, how best to civilise society. More specifically, it is to improve the quality of men. This requires study of genetics and of education. Of these two, the former has usually been put first.

Ronald A C McAllister