A Study On The Thought Of Eugenics Of Nagai Hisomu(1913-1956)

Since its rise in Britain in the 1980s,eugenics has soon spread to the United States,Germany,China,Japan and other countries,and has become a biological way of thinking for these countries to deal with social problems,class problems,ethnic issues,national peril and international competition.Britain used eugenics to effectively spread contraceptive knowledge and measures to the working class;the United States used eugenics to achieve the political goal of restricting immigration;the combination of eugenics and nationalism in Germany led to the tragedy of the Holocaust;China regards eugenics as a way to save the nation from danger.At the end of the 19th century,eugenics was introduced into Japan as a discipline of civilization and enlightenment.The eugenics movement in modern Japan has experienced a total of four periods: the first is the period of “Huang—Bai polygamy”;the second is the popular period of eugenics after Galton’s eugenics was introduced into Japan;the third is the institutionalization period of eugenics research;finally,the legalization period of eugenics.Nagai,an important figure in the history of eugenics in modern Japan,was praised by the media as “the father of eugenics”.He was active in the latter three periods of eugenics and dominated the legalization of eugenics in Japan.His eugenics thought has gone through three stages: the first stage emphasizes the importance of physical quality;the second stage emphasizes that the mission of eugenics is to coordinate the quantity and quality of the Japanese nation.The third stage emphasizes that the essence of national health is to increase the “excellent population” and reduce the “inferior population”.Nagai always takes the initiative to produce eugenic discourse and responds to Japan’s national policy.His eugenic thoughts before and after the war come down in a continuous line and do not show a humanitarian theoretical reflection.Nagai’s eugenics practice is mainly divided into four aspects: in public opinion,to inculcate eugenics knowledge to the public;academically,to establish the Japanese National Health Association and publish the “National Health” magazine;in law,to lobby and support the government to formulate the “sterilization law.” institutional,set up a marriage counseling office.On the one hand,Nagai hopes to enable the Japanese government to carry out compulsory sterilization “legally” through the above practice,forcing people to passively accept eugenics,and on the other hand,by inciting public opinion to induce the Japanese people to take the initiative to practice eugenics.In a word,Nagai medicalized the class and social problems in Japan and tried to use eugenics to make the special groups naked,so as to isolate and eliminate them.The sterilization law advocated by it makes patients not only have to endure the pain caused by the disease,but also have to bear discrimination from the society.The continuity of Nagai’s thought of latent eugenics before and after the war reflects the limitation of Japan’s postwar reflection.