The Return of Eugenics (and G. K. Chesterton’s Objection)

Like physiognomy (the ‘science’ of judging people by their appearance), the taboo science of eugenics is making a return — particularly through the far-right intelligentsia.

The term eugenics, which is derived from the Greek for ‘good in birth’, was first introduced by Darwin’s cousin Francis Galton in the 1870s. It refers to the study of reproduction arranged so as to increase the occurrence of ‘desirable’ traits. From its inception, it has been associated with white supremacy and the subjugation of the poor. According to Derek S. Hoff and Thomas Robertson, eugenicists seek to ‘breed ‘better’ populations by urging the supposedly genetically ‘fit’ to have more babies and securing laws allowing for the involuntary sterilization of the often institutionalized and genetically ‘unfit’ (almost always the poor, the disabled and the non-white)’.

Eugenics, which was at its peak (in terms of influence) in the early twentieth century, fell out of favour after the Nazi’s attempt to exterminate its ‘undesirables’ as part of its eugenic program (explicitly inspired by Galton and his supporters). In the post-war period, eugenics became a taboo topic, generally dismissed as another racist pseudo-science (like physiognomy and phrenology).