Claiming Darwin for the Left???

Marta Russell ap888 at lafn.org
Fri Nov 13 14:26:25 PST 1998


Since both Darwin and eugenics have been discussed on lbo, I am posting this "Claiming Darwin for the Left" thing. It's a rather long interview with one of the world's leading eugenicists, Australian born Dr. Peter Singer, who has been influential in the field of applied ethics for the last 25 years. Singer, who favors killing disabled babies, has been asked to join Princeton's Center for Human Values. According to Singer, a baby can be ethically killed by its parents within 30 days of birth. His rationale: infants are nonpersons because they are not “rational and self-aware.” Even a baby with a condition as mild as hemophilia can be killed if such a death has "no adverse effects on others." He believes in ending anyone's life when it is "not worth living," and in the involuntary killing of anyone who has become a "burden" to their families, the health care system or the state. Singer assauges parents’ misgivings by telling them all such "non-persons" are "replaceable," much like chickens and other farm-yard animals, an analogy which he uses.

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