Robert A. Wilson, The Eugenic Mind Project (MIT Press, 2017)
For most of us, eugenics \u2014 the \u201cscience of improving the human stock\u201d \u2014 is a thing of the past, commonly associated with Nazi Germany and government efforts to promote a pure Aryan race. This view is incorrect: even in California, for example, sterilization of those deemed mentally defective was performed up to 1977. In The Eugenic Mind Project (MIT Press, 2017), Robert A. Wilson critically considers the type of thinking \u2014 which he calls eugenic thinking \u2014 that drives eugenic sterilization practices: the quest for human improvement that derives from negatively marked differences between \u201cbetter\u201d and \u201cworse\u201d kinds of humans. Wilson, who is a professor of philosophy at La Trobe University, also recounts his research with living survivors of these practices. The book is an eye-opening philosophically informed discussion of how eugenic thinking is found in prenatal genetic testing, selective abortion, discrimination of those with disabilities, and immigration policy, and why eugenic thinking is so persistent.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/genocide-studies