Abstract
The science of genetics arose to study the transmission of physical characteristics from parents to their offspring. When closely studied, much variation exists for virtually any characteristic, say, in size or color, among the members of all species, be they flies, dogs, or ourselves, the members of the Homo sapien? species. The origin of his variability long fascinated the scientific world, which already in the nineteenth century asked how much of this variation is due to environmental causes (nurture) as opposed to innate hereditary factors (nature) that pass unchanged from parents to offspring. That such innate heredity exists could never be realistically debated. One need just look at how characteristics in the shape of the face pass through families. Ascribing, say, the uniqueness of the Windsor face to nurture as opposed to nature goes beyond the realm of credibility.
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Notes
Charles Benedict Davenport, Heredity in Relation to Eugenic? (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911).
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© 2010 Sheldon Rubenfeld
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Watson, J.D. (2010). Genetics and Eugenics: A Personal Odyssey. In: Rubenfeld, S. (eds) Medicine after the Holocaust. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230102293_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230102293_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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