In the name of science: the conceptual and ideological background of Charles Richet's eugenics

The French physiologist and Nobel Prize winner Charles Richet was the author of an impressive quantity of writings, including novels and poetry. He was an out-and-out eugenicist, convinced that "intentional, conscious, scientific, and methodical" selection could achieve "any result, p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:História, ciências, saúde--Manguinhos ciências, saúde--Manguinhos, 2018-08, Vol.25 (suppl 1), p.125-144
Main Author: Vergata, Antonello La
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Charles Richet (1850-1935
eugenics
France
HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
History of medicine and histology
Lamarckism
racism
Richet
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Summary:The French physiologist and Nobel Prize winner Charles Richet was the author of an impressive quantity of writings, including novels and poetry. He was an out-and-out eugenicist, convinced that "intentional, conscious, scientific, and methodical" selection could achieve "any result, provided we have enough patience." He believed that the quantitative and qualitative growth of the population was of vital importance for France. In La sélection humaine (1919) and other writings, he dreamt of conscious selection to create "intellectual élites." This process would be crowned by the production of a "higher human nature, a real surhumanité." A staunch believer in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, Richet combined Darwinism and Lamarckism.
ISSN:0104-5970
1678-4758
1678-4758
DOI:10.1590/s0104-59702018000300008