Vom Erscheinen der Darwin'schen Evolutionstheorie 1859 bis zum Nürnberger Ärzteprozess (1946/47) herrschten Ideen der »Eugenik« auf der nördlichen Halbkugel. Hanfried Helmchen beschreibt, wie diese Ideen in Wechselwirkung mit bestimmten Individuen zur Herrschaft kamen. Er arbeitet am Beispiel der Psychiatrie heraus, wie die Idee der Menschenrechte, die seit der Französischen Revolution über die UN-Deklaration von 1948 und die UN-Behindertenrechtskonvention von 2006 zunehmend anerkannt wurde, nachhaltig die Praxis veränderte. Wechselwirkungen zwischen den Ideen einzelner Persönlichkeiten und den Mechanismen ihrer Resonanz in der gesellschaftlichen Öffentlichkeit sowie familiäre und zeitgenössische Prägungen dieser Individuen werden in biographischen Skizzen anschaulich gemacht.
From the publication of Darwin's evolution theory (1859) to the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial (1946/47), ideas of "eugenics" dominated the northern hemisphere. Hanfried Helmchen analyses how these ideas prevailed in interaction with certain individuals. Using psychiatry as an example, he demonstrates how the idea of human rights, which has been increasingly accepted since the French Revolution through the UN Declaration of 1948 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), has had a lasting impact on practice. Biographical sketches not only illustrate the interactions between the ideas of individual personalities and the mechanisms of their resonance in social life but also family and contemporary influences of these individuals.
From the publication of Darwin's evolution theory (1859) to the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial (1946/47), ideas of "eugenics" dominated the northern hemisphere. Hanfried Helmchen analyses how these ideas prevailed in interaction with certain individuals. Using psychiatry as an example, he demonstrates how the idea of human rights, which has been increasingly accepted since the French Revolution through the UN Declaration of 1948 and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), has had a lasting impact on practice. Biographical sketches not only illustrate the interactions between the ideas of individual personalities and the mechanisms of their resonance in social life but also family and contemporary influences of these individuals.