Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry Its Laws and Consequences (Classic Reprint) - Couverture souple

Francis Galton

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1440034427 ISBN 13 : 9781440034428

Editeur : Forgotten Books, 2016

Synopsis

Excerpt from Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry Its Laws and Consequences

The idea of investigating the subject of hereditary genius occurred to me during the course of a purely ethnological inquiry, into the mental peculiarities of different races; when the fact, that characteristics cling to families, was so frequently forced on my notice as to induce me to pay especial attention to that branch of the subject. I began by thinking over the dispositions and achievements of my contemporaries at school, at college, and in after life, and was surprised to find how frequently ability seemed to go by descent. Then I made a cursory examination into the kindred of about four hundred illustrious men of all periods of history, and the results were such, in my own opinion, as completely to establish the theory that genius was hereditary, under limitations that required to be investigated. Thereupon I set to work to gather a large amount of carefully selected biographical data, and in the meantime wrote two articles on the subject, which appeared in Macmillan's Magazine in June and in August, 1865. I also attacked the subject from many different sides and sometimes with very minute inquiries, because it was long before the methods I finally adopted were matured.

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A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

I PRoroSE to show in this book that a man's natural abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as arc the form and physical features of the whole organic world. Consequently, as it is easy, notwithstanding those limitations, to obtain by careful selection a permanent breed of dogs or horses gifted with peculiar powers of running, or of doing anything else, so it would be quite practicable to produce a highly-gifted race of men by judicious marriages during several consecutive generations. I shall show that social agencies of an ordinary character, whose influences are little suspected, arc at this moment working towards the degradation of human nature, and that others are working towards its improvement. I conclude" that each generation has enormous power over the natural gifts of those that follow, and maintain that it is a duty we owe to humanity to investigate the range of that power, and to exercise it in a way that, without being unwise towards ours

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1; CLASSIFICATION OF MEN ACCORDING TO THEIR REPUTATION 5; CLASSIFICATION OF MEN ACCORDING TO THEIR NATURAL GIFTS 12; COMPARISON OF THE TWO CLASSIFICATIONS 33; NOTATION 44; THE JUDGES OF ENGLAND BETWEEN 1660 AND 18G5 49; STATESMEN 98; ENGLISH PEERAGES, THEIR INFLUENCE UPON RACE 123; COMMANDERS 134; LITERARY MEN 160; MEN OF SCIENCE 185; POETS 218; MUSICIANS 230; PAINTERS 239; DIVINES 249; SENIOR CLASSICS OF CAMBRIDGE 289; OARSMEN 296; WRESTLERS OF THE NORTH COUNTRY 303; COMPARISON OF RESULTS 307; THE COMPARATIVE WORTH OF DIFFERENT RACES 325; INFLUENCES THAT AFFECT THE NATURAL ABILITY OF NATIONS 338; GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 349; APPENDIX 362; INDEX 369

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Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Forgotten Books
• Date d'édition: 2016
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1440034427
• ISBN 13: 9781440034428
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 416
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