Plato’s thoughts on Eugenics

Subsequently, I started looking into the origin of the idea of eugenics. The first person that comes in search of Eugenics is British Scientist Francis Galton, who coined the term in 1883. Once he published his work, it opened the doors for the new field in science.

Plato

But there is another name comes when searching for the eugenics, and it is an unusual one and unexpected for the matter. It is no other than — PLATO. The ancient Greek philosopher. He proposed this controversial idea millennia ago.

Ancient Greeks were aware of the concept of Heredity. Which means the child acquires the physical traits of the parents. They were also aware of the fact that some diseases get carried down from parents to offspring. Considering the lack of documentation and research available to Greeks, this theory was notably advanced for that time.

Plato built his analysis based on this theory. In his famous book, The Republic, he writes as following —

“Weak parents should not procreate. Because their children would inherit their inferior qualities, they would have no strength to lead a meaningful life, or in any way contribute to the state.”

Above passage, may seem pretty heartless and apathetic, but we need to consider that Plato has always been forthright while proposing his ideas. It is noteworthy that the modern ideology of Eugenics is similar to what he proposed twenty-four centuries ago by him.

Plato also believed that the child inherits the mental traits of his parents. That motivated him to suggest that, segregation of people with dangerous mental traits.

“The madman is not to be seen in the city, but the responsibility rests upon the relatives, not upon the state. If they fail in their duty, the law will punish them.” — Plato

It is proven today that lots of mental diseases have a connection with genetics. That proves Plato might not have great research to support his outstanding claims, nonetheless, those claims are proven to be right.

How to achieve this? Well, Plato had an ingenious (yet, insensitive) solution for his time. For Plato, this could be achieved by regulating reproduction via selective marriage arrangements and education. His proposal includes that marriages should be governed or enforced by the institution. That removes the liberty of the individual over his/her marriage.

That concludes the historical roots of eugenics with Plato. Plato was not equipped with modern scientific tools and data. Yet the theories that he proposed on eugenics are parallel to the modern eugenics theories.