The Higher Breeding of Man on a Biological Basis

Franze, Paul ChristianProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 1.0
Word count
153K words
Chapters
16

Tags

Foreign Language Books Natural Sciences BiologyHistory of ScienceScience EnlightenmentHuman ImprovementEugenics CritiqueEthical ReflectionSocial ThoughtMoral DilemmaAcademic StudyIntellectual Commentary

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Höherzüchtung des Menschen auf biologischer Grundlage. by Paul Christian FranzeAuthor: Franze, Paul Christian,Language: German, Class: HQ: Social sciences: The family, Marriage, Sex and Gender, Release Date: Oct 9, 2013

Editor's review

This document is an early twentieth-century German-language work discussing the "cultivation" of human beings from a biological standpoint, bearing a distinct mark of its era. Its value lies not in its conclusions but in preserving the original lines of thought by which biological knowledge of the time was extended to issues of social improvement; it is firsthand material for studying the history of eugenic thought and the relationship between science and society. The German original is academic in style, logically clear but dense with terminology, and readers need some German reading ability and background in the history of biology. The Project Gutenberg electronic edition is convenient for searching and citation, and is suitable as material for textual comparison or classroom discussion. When reading, one should place it in its specific historical context, recognizing both its intellectual limitations and its complex connections with later social policy, and avoid taking its views as current scientific conclusions.

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Reading tips

  1. Read the preface and table of contents first to grasp the book's argumentative structure, then read chapter by chapter.
  2. Prepare a specialized German dictionary, mark key terms, and make concept cards.
  3. Read alongside a historical overview of eugenics, constantly comparing the era's background with later evaluations.
  4. Excerpt representative passages for classroom discussion or citation in papers.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16

FAQ

Can I read this book without knowing German? The original is in German and contains much terminology, so direct reading requires some German foundation. Translation tools can help with paragraph-by-paragraph understanding, but accuracy is limited; for serious research, consult a reliable translation or a professional translator's supplementary materials rather than drawing conclusions from machine translation alone.
Do the book's views still hold today? The book's discussion is built on the biological understanding of its time, and many of its inferences have been refuted or revised by modern genetics. Its value is mainly as a historical document rather than a scientific guide; when reading, focus on the intellectual context and the limitations of the era, and do not take its claims as current scientific or ethical conclusions.
Is the electronic edition suitable for academic citation? The Project Gutenberg edition preserves the original content and can be used to cite passages by locating them in the text rather than by page number, but version information should be noted. Formal papers should state the electronic source and publication date, and should check against the print or other authoritative editions to ensure quotation accuracy.

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About the author

Franze, Paul Christian Author

Paul Christian Franze is an author about whom very little biographical information is available. Only one work by this author is held in the collection, Höherzüchtung des Menschen auf biologischer Grundlage. Judging from its title, the book discusses the "eugenic" or "higher breeding" of human beings on a biological basis, placing it within the early twentieth-century German-language discourse on eugenics and racial improvement. Works of this kind bear a strong imprint of their era, and their arguments and value orientations require critical reading today. Because public information is limited, Franze's dates of birth and death, nationality, education and career cannot be confirmed, and conclusions about style and influence must rest on this single surviving work rather than on speculation.