Galton D J
St Bartholomew's Hospital, London.
J Med Ethics. 1998 Aug;24(4):263-7. doi: 10.1136/jme.24.4.263.
With the recent developments in the Human Genome Mapping Project and the new technologies that are developing from it there is a renewal of concern about eugenic applications. Francis Galton (b1822, d1911), who developed the subject of eugenics, suggested that the ancient Greeks had contributed very little to social theories of eugenics. In fact the Greeks had a profound interest in methods of supplying their city states with the finest possible progeny. This paper therefore reviews the works of Plato (The Republic and Politics) and Aristotle (The Politics and The Athenian Constitution) which have a direct bearing on eugenic techniques and relates them to methods used in the present century.
随着人类基因组图谱计划的最新进展以及由此发展而来的新技术，人们对优生学应用的担忧再度浮现。弗朗西斯·高尔顿（生于1822年，卒于1911年）开创了优生学这一学科，他认为古希腊人对优生学的社会理论贡献甚微。事实上，希腊人对为其城邦提供尽可能优秀后代的方法有着浓厚兴趣。因此，本文回顾了柏拉图（《理想国》和《政治家篇》）和亚里士多德（《政治学》和《雅典政制》）的著作，这些著作与优生技术直接相关，并将它们与本世纪所使用的方法联系起来。
