With and Without Galton

In 1865, British polymath Francis Galton published his initial thoughts about the scientific field that would become ‘eugenics.’ The same year, Russian physician Vasilii Florinskii addressed similar issues in a sizeable treatise, entitled Human Perfection and Degeneration. Initially unheralded, Flor...

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প্রধান লেখক: Krementsov, Nikolai
বিন্যাস: Online
ভাষা:ইংরেজি
প্রকাশিত: Open Book Publishers 2021
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অনলাইন ব্যবহার করুন:1001579
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author Krementsov, Nikolai
author_browse Krementsov, Nikolai
author_facet Krementsov, Nikolai
author_sort Krementsov, Nikolai
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description In 1865, British polymath Francis Galton published his initial thoughts about the scientific field that would become ‘eugenics.’ The same year, Russian physician Vasilii Florinskii addressed similar issues in a sizeable treatise, entitled Human Perfection and Degeneration. Initially unheralded, Florinskii’s book would go on to have a remarkable afterlife in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Russia. In this lucid and insightful work, Nikolai Krementsov argues that the concept of eugenics brings together ideas, values, practices, and fears energised by a focus on the future. It has proven so seductive to different groups over time because it provides a way to grapple with fundamental existential questions of human nature and destiny. With and Without Galton develops this argument by tracing the life-story of Florinskii’s monograph from its uncelebrated arrival amid the Russian empire’s Great Reforms, to its reissue after the Bolshevik Revolution, its decline under Stalinism, and its subsequent resurgence: first, as a founding document of medical genetics, and most recently, as a manifesto for nationalists and racial purists. Krementsov’s meticulously researched ‘biography of a book’ sheds light not only on the peculiar fate of eugenics in Russia, but also on its convoluted transnational history, elucidating the field’s protean nature and its continuing and contested appeal to diverse audiences, multiple local trajectories, and global trends. It is required reading for historians of eugenics, science, medicine, education, literature, and Russia, and it will also appeal to the general reader looking for a deeper understanding of this challenging subject.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-370682025-01-29T13:33:16Z With and Without Galton Krementsov, Nikolai history biography eugenics science medicine Russia USSR Francis Galton Vasilii Florinskii thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science In 1865, British polymath Francis Galton published his initial thoughts about the scientific field that would become ‘eugenics.’ The same year, Russian physician Vasilii Florinskii addressed similar issues in a sizeable treatise, entitled Human Perfection and Degeneration. Initially unheralded, Florinskii’s book would go on to have a remarkable afterlife in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Russia. In this lucid and insightful work, Nikolai Krementsov argues that the concept of eugenics brings together ideas, values, practices, and fears energised by a focus on the future. It has proven so seductive to different groups over time because it provides a way to grapple with fundamental existential questions of human nature and destiny. With and Without Galton develops this argument by tracing the life-story of Florinskii’s monograph from its uncelebrated arrival amid the Russian empire’s Great Reforms, to its reissue after the Bolshevik Revolution, its decline under Stalinism, and its subsequent resurgence: first, as a founding document of medical genetics, and most recently, as a manifesto for nationalists and racial purists. Krementsov’s meticulously researched ‘biography of a book’ sheds light not only on the peculiar fate of eugenics in Russia, but also on its convoluted transnational history, elucidating the field’s protean nature and its continuing and contested appeal to diverse audiences, multiple local trajectories, and global trends. It is required reading for historians of eugenics, science, medicine, education, literature, and Russia, and it will also appeal to the general reader looking for a deeper understanding of this challenging subject. 2021-02-10T12:58:18Z 2018-10-01 11:28:55 2020-04-01T12:22:04Z 2018 book 1001579 OCN: 1076784449 http://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/28383 9781783745111 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/37068 eng open access image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg image/jpeg n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/28383/1/With-and-without-Galton%20OAPEN.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/28383/1/With-and-without-Galton%20OAPEN.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/28383/1/With-and-without-Galton%20OAPEN.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/28383/1/With-and-without-Galton%20OAPEN.pdf https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/28383/1/With-and-without-Galton%20OAPEN.pdf Open Book Publishers 10.11647/OBP.0144 10.11647/OBP.0144 b014b543-78bd-4c3b-bc71-b68e2ac855b9 9781783745111 ScholarLed 694 open access
spellingShingle history
biography
eugenics
science
medicine
Russia
USSR
Francis Galton
Vasilii Florinskii
thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science
Krementsov, Nikolai
With and Without Galton
title With and Without Galton
title_full With and Without Galton
title_fullStr With and Without Galton
title_full_unstemmed With and Without Galton
title_short With and Without Galton
title_sort with and without galton
topic history
biography
eugenics
science
medicine
Russia
USSR
Francis Galton
Vasilii Florinskii
thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science
topic_facet history
biography
eugenics
science
medicine
Russia
USSR
Francis Galton
Vasilii Florinskii
thema EDItEUR::P Mathematics and Science::PD Science: general issues::PDX History of science
url 1001579
work_keys_str_mv AT krementsovnikolai withandwithoutgalton