“Survival Value and a Robust, Practical, Joyless Individualism”: Thomas Nixon Carver, Social Justice, and Eugenics

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to provide a compressive assessment of Thomas Nixon Carver's thought -from his early formative years in the 1880s to his post WWII career as a journalist and pamphleteer. The main (albeit not exclusive) focus of this paper will be on the theoretical and philosophical coordinates of Carver's "new liberalism" -his own definition -and how this broad vision was intrinsically connected with an explicit hierarchical and eugenic approach to human nature. Just as important, what follows is also an attempt to increase our general understanding of the extent in which eugenic considerations permeated the realm of political economy during the first decades of the last century and how, in some specific cases as that of Carver, this influence persisted after the end of the Progressive Era.

Hereditarianism, Eugenics, and American Social Science in the Interwar Years: Meet the Carverians

“…Carver was certainly a controversial figure. His outspoken conservativism exposed him to the attacks of pro-labor progressives (Fiorito and Orsi 2017), while his explicit commitment to eugenics made him a perfect target for a sharp critic like Frank Knight (1925), who looked with contempt at any attempt to introduce biologically deterministic arguments into the social sciences. Yet, and probably because of the divisive nature of his thought, Carver was a charismatic teacher whose corps of devoted students was thought by some to resemble a cult.…”

A biomythography introducing the Blafemme Healing framework.

“…Survival is defined as "the capacity to adapt to the surrounding material universe"(Fiorito & Orsi, 2017).BLAFEMME HEALING…”

Hereditarianism, Eugenics and American Social Science in the Interwar Years: Meet the Carverians

“…Carver was certainly a controversial figure. His outspoken conservativism exposed him to the attacks of pro-labor progressives (Fiorito & Orsi 2017) while his explicit commitment to eugenics made him a perfect target for a sharp critic like Frank Knight (1925), who looked with contempt at any attempt to introduce biologically deterministic arguments into the social sciences.…”