R. A. Fisher: a faith fit for eugenics
by
Moore J.
Department of History of Science,
Technology and Medicine,
The Open University,
Milton Keynes, UK.
j.r.moore@open.ac.uk
Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2007 Mar;38(1):110-35.

ABSTRACT

In discussions of 'religion-and-science', faith is usually emphasized more than works, scientists' beliefs more than their deeds. By reversing the priority, a lingering puzzle in the life of Ronald Aylmer Fisher (1890-1962), statistician, eugenicist and founder of the neo-Darwinian synthesis, can be solved. Scholars have struggled to find coherence in Fisher's simultaneous commitment to Darwinism, Anglican Christianity and eugenics. The problem is addressed by asking what practical mode of faith or faithful mode of practice lent unity to his life? Families, it is argued, with their myriad practical, emotional and intellectual challenges, rendered a mathematically-based eugenic Darwinian Christianity not just possible for Fisher, but vital. Personal Name as Subject

H.W. Poll
R.A. Fisher
Biohappiness
Eugenics talk
'Designer babies'
Private eugenics
Psychiatric genetics
'Liberal eugenics' (PDF)
Human self-domestication
Selecting potential children
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
'The Principle of Procreative Beneficience'
Francis Galton and contemporary eugenics
Gene therapy and performance enhancement
The commercialisation of pre-natal enhancement
Biologising social problems under the banner of eugenics

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