The Ethics of the New Eugenics

Footnote

Calum MacKellar and Christopher Bechtel, eds., The Ethics of the New Eugenics (Berghahn Books, 2014)

Bibliography

MacKellar, Calum, and Christopher Bechtel, editors. The Ethics of the New Eugenics. Berghahn Books, 2014

Abstract

Strategies or decisions aimed at affecting, in a manner considered to be positive, the genetic heritage of a child in the context of human reproduction are increasingly being accepted in contemporary society. As a result, unnerving similarities between earlier selection ideology so central to the discredited eugenic regimes of the 20th century and those now on offer suggest that a new era of eugenics has dawned. The time is ripe, therefore, for considering and evaluating from an ethical perspective both current and future selection practices. This inter-disciplinary volume blends research from embryology, genetics, philosophy, sociology, psychology, and history. In so doing, it constructs a thorough picture of the procedures emerging from today’s reproductive developments, including a rigorous ethical argumentation concerning the possible advantages and risks related to the new eugenics.

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  • Oklahoma History of Science Collections copy donated by Calum MacKellar.