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 an “intentional, conscious, scientific, and methodical” selection could achieve “any result, provided we had enough patience”. He believed that the quantitative and qualitative increase of population was a vital matter for France. In La sélection humaine (1913) and other writings, he dreamed of a conscious selection creating “intellectual élites”. The 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.

In the Name of Science: the Conceptual and Ideological Background of Charles Richet’s Eugenics / La Vergata, Antonello. - In: HISTÓRIA, CIÊNCIAS, SAÚDE-MANGUINHOS. - ISSN 0104-5970. - 25, Suplemento (agosto 2018):(2018), pp. 125-144. [10.1590/S0104-59702018000300008]

In the Name of Science: the Conceptual and Ideological Background of Charles Richet’s Eugenics

Antonello La Vergata
2018

Abstract

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 an “intentional, conscious, scientific, and methodical” selection could achieve “any result, provided we had enough patience”. He believed that the quantitative and qualitative increase of population was a vital matter for France. In La sélection humaine (1913) and other writings, he dreamed of a conscious selection creating “intellectual élites”. The 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.
2018
25, Suplemento (agosto 2018)
125
144
In the Name of Science: the Conceptual and Ideological Background of Charles Richet’s Eugenics / La Vergata, Antonello. - In: HISTÓRIA, CIÊNCIAS, SAÚDE-MANGUINHOS. - ISSN 0104-5970. - 25, Suplemento (agosto 2018):(2018), pp. 125-144. [10.1590/S0104-59702018000300008]
La Vergata, Antonello
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11380/1181257
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