Eugenistas, pero con prudencia

Thinking that one could not describe eugenics like a unique movement, since numerous bound varians took place related to the geographical and cultural context, this article tries to demostrate the peculiarity of the Italian case. If already in 1889 Giuseppe Sergi wanted that the artificial selection take it to end what should make the natural, avoiding the risk of the so called «degeneration», only in the face of the First World War seems to grow the alarm for the decadent quality of the population, finding a more and more wide echo. In 1919 the Siges was born (Società italiana de genetica ed eugenica) shocked under the impression of the difusse fear about the butcher the war had caused. From there from now on fastens a «nazional» direction closely related to the traditional thought and also with the new political temper. A «moderate» direction, Fascist, Catholic, that was built in consonance with the pronatalism of the regime and in rough polemic with the presumed Anglo-Saxon eugenics aberration

Lucky Triune Brain. Chronicles of Paul D. MacLean's Neuro-Catchword

The triune brain idea has been rated as the most influential in post-war neuroscience. The first part of this article seeks to retrace its genesis and development through the vicissitudes of the research conducted by Paul D. MacLean (1913-2007). Ten years have passed since his death: despite the loss of scientific credit, the apparent simplicity of his tripartite theory continues to exert a certain popular appeal. In the second part of the article an attempt is made to figure out how the transfer from the laboratory to public fruition could happen. The man initially responsible for the operation was MacLean himself, then aided by a few followers who had the means to spread his message of slavation. Against the background of the Cold War, and while Western culture started to realize the threat posed by overpopulation, pollution, exhaustion of critical resources, they deluded themselves that “knowing the brain” might suggest new and more effective approaches to the troubles of the oncoming end of the century. Consulting MacLean’s papers in the archives at the National Library of Medicine (Bethesda, MD) has been essential to this historical reconstruction

Science and Race: Images, Objects, Maps

Introduction to the special issue Science and rac

De la mesure du corps à la politique des corps (une histoire des sciences du travail (1880-1920))

A la fin du XIXe siècle, dans le contexte de la mise en place de la société salariale en Europe, émerge un projet positiviste d étude du travail humain que l on n a pas hésité à appeler ergologie . Ce projet, qui traversera différentes sciences humaines, cherchait à définir et à encadrer normativement le travail humain en partant de l étude des potentialités et des limites psycho-physiologiques de l activité corporelle (fatigue, aptitudes psychomotrices, monotonie, attention..). En ce sens, l étude psycho-physiologique s inscrivait dans un projet plus large d optimisation de l activité humaine (hygiénisme, paix sociale, eugénisme...), en ce sens la connaissance du corps au travail apparaissait comme une partie de la rationalisation de son usage . C est dans cette perspective que certains historiens ont interprété le programme ergologique comme une tentative de chosification du corps dont le but serait de le transformer en instrument au service du profit capitaliste et/ou en support du contrôle disciplinaire de l Etat (Rabinbach, 1992). Or, en observant le développement épistémologique et politique de ce projet ergologique , on peut s apercevoir que les tentatives de mesurer et de gérer le corps entendu comme instrument de la production montrent en continuation la nécessité de prendre en compte le choix volontaire par laquelle l homme définit le but pour de son activité corporelle. En effet, si le travail humain ne peut être défini que comme une activité instrumentale pour atteindre un but voulu , l homme serait donc celui qui fait usage de son propre corps pour réaliser un projet . Ainsi, mesurer et gouverner les hommes par le travail du corps, tel que cherche à le faire l ergologie , n équivaut pas simplement à réduire celui-ci à un objet malléable, mais également à penser l activité corporelle instrumentale comme le moment où l homme définit les objectif de son action en fonctions des différentes contraintes qui déterminent son action vitale.At the end of the nineteenth century, in the context of the implementation of the wage society in Europe, appears a positivist project for studying human labor, which does not hesitate to define "ergology." This project, that cross different human sciences, sought to define and guide the normatively human work on the basis of the study of the psycho-physiological potentiality and limits of body s activity (fatigue, attitudes, monotony, attention ...). In this sense, the study of psycho-physiological motions is part of a project about the "optimization" of human activities (hygienism, social peace, eugenics ...). From this perspective, some historians have interpreted the ergology as a form of "mechanization" of the body that would transform it into an instrument at the service of the capitalist profit and/or into a support of the disciplinary control of the State (Rabinbach, 1992) . However, observing the epistemological and political development of the "ergological project ", we can see that to measure and to management the man as an instrument of the production it need to take into account the voluntary action by which man defines the goal that his bodily activity. If human labor can be defined as an activity instrumental to achieve a goal "desired", so the man appears as the master of his body for the accomplishment of a project . So, measure and govern men through the work of the body does not just mean reducing the latter to object malleable, but also think the work as the action through the organic activity can be the support for a human realization.NANTERRE-PARIS10-Bib. élec. (920509901) / SudocSudocFranceF

Brain and Race. A History of Cerebral Anthropology

Since the second half of the eighteenth century, generations of scientists persisted in studying the relationships between the volume, weight or shape of the human brain and the degree of ‘intelligence’. In Pogliano’s book, the thread of time drives the narrative up to the mid-twentieth century. It investigates the duration and changes of a game that was intrinsically political, although having to do with bones and nervous matter. Races made its main object, during a long period when Western culture believed the human species to be naturally partitioned into a number of discrete types, with their innate and hereditary traits. Never leading to irrefutable achievements, the polycentric (as well as visual) enterprise herein described is full of growing tensions, doubts, and disillusionment

Eugenistas, pero con prudencia

Thinking that one could not describe eugenics like a unique movement, since numerous bound varians took place related to the geographical and cultural context, this article tries to demostrate the peculiarity of the Italian case. If already in 1889 Giuseppe Sergi wanted that the artificial selection take it to end what should make the natural, avoiding the risk of the so called «degeneration», only in the face of the First World War seems to grow the alarm for the decadent quality of the population, finding a more and more wide echo. In 1919 the Siges was born (Società italiana de genetica ed eugenica) shocked under the impression of the difusse fear about the butcher the war had caused. From there from now on fastens a «nazional» direction closely related to the traditional thought and also with the new political temper. A «moderate» direction, Fascist, Catholic, that was built in consonance with the pronatalism of the regime and in rough polemic with the presumed Anglo-Saxon eugenics aberration.<br><br>Partiendo de la base de que no se puede describir la eugénica como un movimiento unitario, ya que se produjeron numerosas variantes ligadas al contexto geográfico y cultural, este artículo intenta demostrar la peculiaridad del caso italiano. Si ya en 1889 Giuseppe Sergi deseaba que la selección artificial llevase a cabo lo que debía de hacer la natural, evitando así el riesgo de la «degeneración », sólo ante la Primera Guerra Mundial parece crecer la alarma por la decadente calidad de la población, encontrando un eco cada vez más amplio. En 1919 nació la Sige (Società italiana de genetica ed eugenica) bajo la impresión del difuso temor que la carnicería bélica había provocado. De ahí en adelante prende rápidamente una dirección «nazional» que se imbrica tanto con una tradición del pensamiento como con el nuevo temple político. Una dirección «moderada» fascista, católica, que se construyó en consonancia con el pronataUsmo del régimen y en polémica áspera con la presunta aberración eugènica anglosajona

1921: l'esordio di una singolare rivista

L'articolo analizza la prima annata della "Rassegna di studi sessuali", inaugurata nel 1921 sotto la direzione dello storico della scienza Aldo Mieli (1879-1950)

Viaggio immaginario, distopia frenologica

L'articolo presenta la finzione distopica narrata nel 1825 sotto pseudonimo da un funzionario coloniale britannico, John Trotter, che immagina di approdare, durante un'ascensione in pallone aerostatico, su un'isola collocata in cielo, la cui popolazione è governata da principi di tipo frenologico. Accolto dalla popolazione di quel regno, descrive il sistema politico locale: differenti forme d’intelligenza coordinate da una perfetta divisione del lavoro; nulla lasciato al caso e tutto regolato dalla selezione attitudinale. Dal ferreo determinismo che configura una catena ineluttabile di cause ed effetti, discendono una serie di conseguenze notevoli : il protagonista è insieme turbato e tentato da quella forma di organizzazione totalitaria