G K Chesterton

Broschiertes Buch

Eugenics and Other Evils

Beschreibung

G K Chesterton wrote 'Eugenics and Other Evils' over 90 years ago, as a warning against the new 'science' of eugenics. It was a bold act at a time when US president Woodrow Wilson was an avid supporter of 'scientific breeding' and even Winston Churchill believed that "the multiplication of the feeble-minded cannot go on unchecked." Wielding his formidable insight and wit - and with remarkable prescience - Chesterton deconstructs the absurdities of the Eugenicist movement and points to its potential for ill-use, dangers which came to their full, terrible fruition in the Nazi destruction of the mentally ill and the horrors of the Holocaust. Despite its age, this is a surprisingly contemporary book. Modern-day Genetics, which offers tests claiming to reveal 'weaknesses' such as mental instability, susceptibility to illness, or a low IQ, make it plain that eugenic 'solutions' are even more plausible today than when Chesterton first wrote this timely and thought-provoking analysis.

Autor

Gilbert Keith Chesterton, (29 May 1874 - 14 June 1936), was an English writer, poet, philosopher, dramatist, journalist, orator, lay theologian, biographer, and literary and art critic. Chesterton is often referred to as the "prince of paradox".Time magazine has observed of his writing style: "Whenever possible Chesterton made his points with popular sayings, proverbs, allegories-first carefully turning them inside out. Chesterton is well known for his fictional priest-detective Father Brown,[5] and for his reasoned apologetics. Even some of those who disagree with him have recognised the wide appeal of such works as Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man.[4][6] Chesterton routinely referred to himself as an "orthodox" Christian, and came to identify this position more and more with Catholicism, eventually converting to Catholicism from High Church Anglicanism. George Bernard Shaw, his "friendly enemy", said of him, "He was a man of colossal genius."[4] Biographers have identified him as a successor to such Victorian authors as Matthew Arnold, Thomas Carlyle, Cardinal John Henry Newman, and John Ruskin. Chesterton was born in Campden Hill in Kensington, London, the son of Marie Louise, née Grosjean, and Edward Chesterton.[8][9] He was baptised at the age of one month into the Church of England,[10] though his family themselves were irregularly practising Unitarians.[11]According to his autobiography, as a young man Chesterton became fascinated with the occultand, along with his brother Cecil, experimented with Ouija boards.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Aziloth Books
• Seitenzahl: 128
• Erscheinungstermin: 22. Juli 2011
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 7mm
• Gewicht: 198g
• ISBN-13: 9781908388278
• ISBN-10: 1908388277
• Artikelnr.: 33947381