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To this end, they sought to use statistical techniques to establish that the lion’s share of the variance in characteristics like intelligence could be attributed to one’s parentage. The basis of eugenic studies was to show the primacy of inheritance in the development of human potential. In fact, in the same speech he also made the link between eugenics and statistics unambiguously explicit, when he suggested that if Hitler’s programme of racial hygiene were to fail that, “it will not be for want of enthusiasm, but rather because the Germans are only just starting the study of mathematical statistics in the modern sense!”. Pearson himself spoke approvingly of Nazi plans during his retirement speech in 1934. Such ideas were prevalent throughout the world in the early 20th century. If all of this sounds reminiscent of the programmes of racial hygiene conducted in Nazi Germany this should be no surprise. In fact, it was Francis Galton himself who invented the term “eugenics”, which means literally “well-born”.
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The motivation behind eugenics is clearly encapsulated within this statement - the eugenicists advocated a kind of “social Darwinism”, in which selective breeding practices would allow a race of super humans to be bred. For instance, in “On The Laws of Inheritance in Man”, Pearson once wrote that, “intelligence can be aided and be trained, but no training or education can create it. This meant that they believed that a person’s behaviour and abilities are largely innate, inherited from their parents. The eugenicists were firmly in the nature camp. In particular, Darwin’s theory of natural selection ignited the nature-nurture debate. īut what is eugenics and why does it have such a strong link with statistics? In order to understand this we need to look no further than another of Galton’s relatives, his cousin, Charles Darwin. Logo from the Second International Congress of Eugenics, 1921.