Search

First used academically by F. Galton (1883), the term “eugenics” denotes the attempt to protect the race against degeneration and damage (negative eugenics) and to achieve and, if possible, enhance its development (positive eugenics). Synonyms in various time periods have been “racial hygiene” (A. Ploetz in 1895, dropped after 1945), “propagation hygiene,” and “heredity hygiene.” Means of negative eugenics are birth control, isolation, and sterilization, while education and marriage and family counseling are means of positive eugenics. The eugenic a…

Many thousands of hereditary human ailments and characteristics are now known to be due to changes in specific genes. Human genetics studies their causes and transmission. Prognosis is possible on the basis of diagnosis and family histories. Under certain conditions the probability of gene and chromosome distribution and thus of genetic sickness in the next generation may be calculated. During pregnancy prenatal diagnosis (e.g., by amniocentesis in the 16th to the 17th week, by analysis of the chorionic villi during the 8th to 11th weeks, or by other procedures such as ultrasound or fetoscopy) may determine whether the child has a specific illness. In the case of Down’s syndrome there is a superfluous chromosome 21, whereas in other cases there may be a gene defect. Genetic technology is constantly bringing to light other genetic abnormalit…

[German Version] (Dec 27, 1571, Weil der Stadt – Nov 15, 1630, Regensburg), astronomer, philosopher, theologian of nature, champion and extender of the Copernican system (N. Copernicus). After uncompleted study of theology in 1594, Kepler taught mathematics in Graz. There in 1595 he discovered what he called and published as the …

[German Version] (May 1, 1881, Sarcenat, near Clermont-Ferrand – Apr 10, 1955, New York), paleontologist and theo…

…

1. Term The term “worldview” covers many different ways of viewing the world. It is used for views, pictures, images, concepts, and orientations toward the world, as suggested by the various Ger. terms …

[German Version] I. Terminology – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Psychology and Psychology of Religion…

[German Version] I. Science – II. Philosophy of Religion – III. Systematic Theology – IV. Ethics I. Science Although Darwinism may be thought of as referring to the version of evolutionary theory originating from C.R. Darwin (Desmond & Moore), it is in reality, however, difficult…

[German Version] I. History and Cosmology – II. Religious Studies – III. Evolution and Creation – IV. Social Sciences – V. Ethics I. History and Cosmology The significance of the notion of evolution as a historical process taking place through the interaction of contingent factors and r…

[German Version] I. Philosophy The word Weltbild (“worldview”; more lit. “world picture”) is already found in early medieval German; it is defined as a “conceptual view of the world that emerges from the totality of impressions made by the world and ideas of one’s Weltanschauung” ( DWb 28 [14.1.1], 1955, 1553). Its meaning is thus related to the meaning of Weltanschauung . Philosophy usually tr…