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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 proce…

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 Weltanschauung, Weltansicht, Weltbeschreibung, Weltbild, and Weltorientierung. Note also the Fr. science générale (C. H. Saint-Simon [1760–1825]), esprit positif (A. Comte [1798–1857]), and conscience collective (É. Durkheim [1858–1917]), as well as the Eng. “outlooks on life” (J. Dewey [1859–1952]). 1.1. Model of Interpretation The term “worldview,” or Weltanschauung, serve…