‘On the Question of Degeneration’ by Emil Kraepelin (1908)1

Abstract

The introduction to this Classic Text draws on a new consensus among researchers in the history of eugenics to assess how Kraepelin articulated his eugenic ideas and put them into practice. It analyses his article ‘On the Question of Degeneration’ and finds him not just giving voice to his deep concern for the German Volk, but also espousing neo-Lamarckian views and building a large-scale, clinically oriented, epidemiological research programme. The introduction situates this research programme in the context of Kraepelin's work in Munich before World War I. © 2007, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.