In the name of science: the conceptual and ideological background of Charles Richet's eugenics.
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
; 25(suppl 1): 125-144, 2018 08.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30133586
The French physiologist and Nobel Prize winner Charles Richet was the author of an impressive quantity of writings, including novels and poetry. He was an out-and-out eugenicist, convinced that "intentional, conscious, scientific, and methodical" selection could achieve "any result, provided we have enough patience." He believed that the quantitative and qualitative growth of the population was of vital importance for France. In La sélection humaine (1919) and other writings, he dreamt of conscious selection to create "intellectual élites." This process would be crowned by the production of a "higher human nature, a real surhumanité." A staunch believer in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, Richet combined Darwinism and Lamarckism.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Eugenics
Type of study:
Qualitative_research
Country/Region as subject:
Europa
Language:
En
Journal:
Hist Cienc Saude Manguinhos
Journal subject:
CIENCIA
/
HISTORIA DA MEDICINA
/
SAUDE PUBLICA
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article
Country of publication:
Brazil