Andrade da Cruz, Rodrigo (Author)
Waisse, Silvia (Author)
Circumscribere: International Journal for the History of Science
Volume: 22
Pages: 50-68
In this paper we argue that the motif underlying Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890-1962) scientific endeavors was eugenics and the notion of differential fertility. Fisher’s contribution to Neo-Darwinian synthesis and the development of several basic concepts of modern statistics, among others, derived from his interest in providing sound grounds to the hypothesis that the reproduction of the ‘well-born’ ought to be encouraged, while individuals “unfit for civilized society” were to be financially and socially discouraged from bearing children. Fisher believed that all striving notwithstanding, all human societies were doomed to decadence and collapse due to purely biological reasons, being eugenics the only approach likely to prevent such sorry fate. In Fisher’s work statistics, evolution theory, genetics and eugenics form one single logical structure, since all of them directly concern a more general problem, i.e., the biological improvement of humankind. Eugenics did not disappear after the end of World War II, but was reframed at least partially as present-day genetics, including clinical genetic counseling.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
Sukumar P. Desai;
Shreena A. Vyas;
(2015)
The Professor and the Student, Sir Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890–1962) and William Sealy Gosset (1876–1937): Careers of Two Giants in Mathematical Statistics
Article
Kim Kleinman;
(2019)
Why Edgar Anderson Visited Math Departments: Natural History, Statistics, and Applied Mathematics
Article
Alex Aylward;
(2021)
R.A. Fisher, eugenics, and the campaign for family allowances in interwar Britain
Chapter
Moore, James;
(2007)
Ronald Aylmer Fisher: A Faith Fit for Eugenics
Article
Moore, James;
(2007)
R. A. Fisher: A Faith Fit for Eugenics
Book
Paolo Lombardi;
Gianluca Nesi;
(2022)
Imparare a uccidere. Il programma T4 e il genocidio
Book
Cantor, G. N.;
Swetlitz, Marc;
(2006)
Jewish Tradition and the Challenge of Darwinism
Book
Turda, Marius;
(2010)
Modernism and Eugenics
Book
Glick, Thomas F.;
Puig-Samper, Miguel Ángel;
Ruiz, Rosaura;
(2001)
The Reception of Darwinism in the Iberian World: Spain, Spanish America and Brazil
Book
David Redvaldsen;
(2024)
A History of British Eugenics since 1865: From Francis Galton to Designer Babies
Book
Kenneth J. Berry;
Janis E. Johnston;
Paul W. Mielke;
(2014)
A Chronicle of Permutation Statistical Methods: 1920-2000, and Beyond
Article
Sheynin, Oscar;
(2008)
Romanovsky's Correspondence with K. Pearson and R. A. Fisher
Book
William H. Tucker;
(2024)
'The Bell Curve' in Perspective: Race, Meritocracy, Inequality and Politics
Article
Norberto Serpente;
(2016)
More than a Mentor: Leonard Darwin’s Contribution to the Assimilation of Mendelism into Eugenics and Darwinism
Book
Crook, Paul;
(2007)
Darwin's Coat-Tails: Essays on Social Darwinism
Article
Tontonoz, Matthew;
(2008)
The Scopes Trial Revisited: Social Darwinism Versus Social Gospel
Chapter
Puig-Samper, Miguel Ángel;
(2001)
Darwinism in Spanish Physical Anthropology. Part Two: Eugenics, Degeneration and Social Darwinism
Chapter
Richards, Robert J.;
(2009)
That Darwin and Haeckel Were Complicit in Nazi Biology
Book
Kolchinskii, Eduard I.;
(2006)
Biologiia Germanii i Rossii-SSSR v usloviiakh sotsial'no-politicheskikh krizisov pervoi poloviny XX veka: mezhdu liberalizmom, kommunizmom i natsional-sotsializmom
Article
Renwick, Chris;
(2011)
From Political Economy to Sociology: Francis Galton and the Social-Scientific Origins of Eugenics
Be the first to comment!