If you could modify the human population to be more intelligent or more beautiful, would you? When this idea of eugenics — or selectively breeding a population with more “desirable” traits — was first popularized in the twentieth century, such contemporary figures as Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, H.G. Wells, and, not surprisingly, Adolf Hitler, were supporters. Now, with renewed interest in the science of eugenics, editors Calum MacKellar and Christopher Bechtel explore the unsavory aspects and issues in The Ethics of the New Eugenics, to be published this month. Following, the editors explain what led them to study this science, and what may be ahead for the field.

 

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What drew you to the study of eugenics?

 

Calum MacKellar: Over the many years that I have worked in the field of human bioethics, I have always suspected that the topic of eugenics would eventually come back to haunt society.

For too long, now, the specter of eugenic genetic selection has been hovering over new fertility procedures but has just been set aside as being too ethically loaded or controversial to be addressed head-on.

Because of this, I felt that a study on the new developments in eugenics had to eventually be undertaken no matter how contentious or sensitive the results may be. 

 

Did any perceptions on the subject change from the time you started your research/compiled the contributions to the time you completed the volume?

 

Calum MacKellar and Christopher Bechtel: Maybe one of the greatest surprises in doing this research was to discover how many distinguished individuals actually supported eugenic practices at the beginning of the twentieth century. Whole departments of eugenics even existed in some of the most distinguished universities across Europe. All this changed, of course, after the horrors of the Second World War. But because eugenic procedures were once so well accepted, we are concerned that a return to such practices could, unfortunately, take place. Actually, we believe society is already sleep-walking back into eugenics based on the premises of autonomy, human flourishing and the reduction of suffering.

 

To what extent do you think the book will contribute to debates among current and future academics within the field?

 

CM and CB: The book will develop and explain all the different manners in which eugenic procedures can be considered in present society while discussing both the advantages and risks related to each practice. As such the book will be very useful to readers who want to obtain a state of the art review of both historical and modern eugenic occurrences.

The conclusions will certainly give rise to a strong debate in current and future academic circles.

 

Do you think there are aspects of this work that will be controversial to other scholars working in the field? Do you think aspects will be controversial to non-academic readers?

 

CM and CB: Hopefully, this book will be an eye-opener to both academic and other individuals interested in the topic of eugenics. It will demonstrate how far modern society has already come and the need for public discussion in considering the future.

In the UK, for example, the Government is already proposing to legalize inheritable germline gene modifications which would be a first in the history of science. 

 

What is one particular area of interest or question, that hasn’t necessarily been the focus of much attention, which you feel is especially pertinent to your field today and in the future?

 

CM and CB: We are very concerned that eugenic procedures will eventually be fully accepted again by consumer societies without any real and probing questions being asked as to the consequences of such developments. On the basis of the equality of worth and value of all possible future human beings, no matter who they are, can civilized society ever accept that a life unworthy of life may exist?

 

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Calum MacKellar is Director of Research of the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, Edinburgh, and Visiting Professor of Bioethics at St Mary’s University College, London, UK.

 

Christopher Bechtel holds a degree in philosophy and is a Research Fellow with the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, Edinburgh, UK.