Eugenics
Richard Gunderman
School of Medicine
Eugenics, the notion that it is possible to decrease suffering, increase happiness, and even enhance humanity itself by altering patterns of reproduction, once exerted powerful sway over scientists, intellectuals, and policy makers in the US. IU’s seventh president, biologist David Starr Jordan, who was also the first president of Stanford University, once stood in the vanguard of American eugenicists. In this physician-taught interdisciplinary course, we will explore eugenics’ biological origins and influence, examine ethical arguments for and against it, and consider its future social prospects in light of advancing genetic science and technologies.
Catalog Information: HON-H 240 SCIENCE AND SOCIETY