Julian Huxley and the Continuity of Eugenics in Twentieth-century Britain

Abstract

Julian Huxley and the Continuity of Eugenics in Twentieth-century Britain

The science and ideas of Julian Sorrell Huxley represent not only considerable contributions to evolutionary theory but also to eugenic thought and social planning. Huxley's career history as an international figure was complex. This paper sees Huxley's peripatetic career as linked to ideological agendas of «a new world order». The problems addressed here are, first, the extent of continuities in eugenic commitments from his interwar views and, second, to determine the contours of Huxley's post-Second World War eugenic thinking. Huxley emerges as a crucial bridging figure from what has been referred to as «old eugenics» to a new eugenics based on molecular biology, providing an influential analysis of human evolution and a set of persuasively appealing concepts for both the wider public and scientific elite.