EUGENICS: IS IT SCIENCE OR NOT?

Abstract

The objective of this work was at analyzing to what extent Eugenics was described as science, further its concepts and theoretizations. This study presents a qualitative approach, bibliographical research from the journal Boletins da Eugenia, published from 1929 to 1933. For this analysis, a textual search was carried out in works available in PDF digital format in the collection of Hemeroteca Digital Brasileira and on the GEPHE-UEM website, selecting the productions using keywords sciencia and/or ciência, in the title or body text, which sought to describe Eugenics as a science, also called Galton’s Science. Our studies revealed that defining Eugenics as a Science in the current context, from a critical-reflexive perspective, is a mistaken understanding of what is characterized as science. This fact becomes evident when we realize that Science is not something isolated, but a collective enterprise inserted in different broader social and cultural contexts. To build on this study, we also highlight the importance of differentiating Science from other forms of knowledge, and the need for in-depth analyses, whether of the criteria used to demarcate Science, or of the social conditions of knowledge production to, in fact, be considered scientific. Therefore, historical contexts and prior knowledge of the time are mainly considered, as at that time it could be considered as science, but today it is not.