Oct 29, 2026 09:45 PM
https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...perfection
EXCERPTS: Towards the end of the last century, some philosophers and bioethicists began to defend what they called “liberal eugenics”. Nicholas Agar and Julian Savulescu are among the figures who have argued that this form of eugenics, driven by parental freedom of choice, is something entirely different from the repressive eugenics of the past, which sought to mobilise the state to marginalise or even exterminate entire groups.
[...] States need to manage their populations for instrumental purposes – to keep the economy growing, to avoid public health emergencies and to have enough soldiers available to fight wars. For a long time, this management was carried out in paternalistic or authoritarian ways. But, as the philosopher Michel Foucault argued, a signal feature of the modern state is that it operates through governmentality – by providing the incentives for citizens to manage themselves in ways that align with state interests.
If we, as individuals, freely decide to treat ourselves and our families as miniature populations to be optimised for health and productivity, that saves the state quite a lot of effort. But what does this mean for our sense of ourselves? (MORE - details)
EXCERPTS: Towards the end of the last century, some philosophers and bioethicists began to defend what they called “liberal eugenics”. Nicholas Agar and Julian Savulescu are among the figures who have argued that this form of eugenics, driven by parental freedom of choice, is something entirely different from the repressive eugenics of the past, which sought to mobilise the state to marginalise or even exterminate entire groups.
[...] States need to manage their populations for instrumental purposes – to keep the economy growing, to avoid public health emergencies and to have enough soldiers available to fight wars. For a long time, this management was carried out in paternalistic or authoritarian ways. But, as the philosopher Michel Foucault argued, a signal feature of the modern state is that it operates through governmentality – by providing the incentives for citizens to manage themselves in ways that align with state interests.
If we, as individuals, freely decide to treat ourselves and our families as miniature populations to be optimised for health and productivity, that saves the state quite a lot of effort. But what does this mean for our sense of ourselves? (MORE - details)