Doctor Ward gives a figure--as above--which might be used to indicate
the conclusions of Galton, in his _Hereditary Genius_, and of Ribot
and others. Doctor Galton himself gave in his volume on the _Social
Order_ a chart somewhat more discriminating. In any case, however, the
eugenists must depend upon the mass of the mediocre for a supply of
geniuses and those of exceptional talent and depend upon the process
of reproduction for securing that supply. Doctor Ward, on the
contrary, looks to education, controlled and improved environment, and
the stimulus for all people to be gained from more scientific
knowledge more widely distributed. In his famous article, entitled
"Eugenics, Euthenics, and Eudemics,"[12] Doctor Ward says that
"eugenists tend to emphasize unduly the intellectual qualities" and
"manifest more or less contempt for the affective faculties."
"Nature," he thinks, "is far wiser and seeks to prevent all extremes."
He also reminds us that "much that is called genius is pathologic and
linked to the abnormal and the insane." Perhaps few would agree with
Doctor Ward that "genius is scattered somewhat uniformly through the
whole mass of the population and needs only favoring circumstances to
bring it to conscious expression." But that thought challenges
attention. He would improve mankind, first, by getting rid of error
through the full use of demonstrated scientific knowledge and, second,
by a "nurture" in accord with the laws of progress.
=Euthenics and Eudemics.=--The pioneer treatment of "Euthenics," or
"The Science of Controllable Environment," with its "Plea for Better
Living Conditions as a First Step Toward Higher Human Efficiency,"
was given by Ellen H. Richards in 1910. Doctor Ward, in alluding to
this, reminds us that "there is a tendency for the avenues of progress
to become choked and normal upward movements checked" and that "we
must at all times take vigorous action and in the direction of the
betterment of the human race." In respect to "Eudemics," or the
doctrine of the welfare of the masses of the people-at-large, Doctor
Ward uses the term first suggested to Doctor Dealey, of Brown
University, by Doctor Koopman, Librarian of that University, with
approval, and gives it a meaning of the greatest social helpfulness.
In his view it is not a misfortune that society is being to so great
an extent recruited from the so-called "lower classes." If there are
signs of decadence anywhere, he thinks, they are not in the
"proletariat;" they are among the "pampered rich," not the "hampered
poor."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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