“弱智者的威胁”: 戈达德与 19、 20 世纪之交美国对智力缺陷者的形象建构及其影响

"The Menace of the Feeble Minded":Henry Goddard and the Image-building of the Mentally Retarded in America at the Turn of the 20th Century and Its Influence

摘要:

“弱智者的威胁” 是 20 世纪初美国学者亨利·戈达德系统阐述的对智力缺陷者的看法, 旨在论 证对智力缺陷者展开社会控制的必要性。 1908 年, 戈达德率先把比奈-西蒙智力量表引入美国, 用以分类和 识别智力缺陷者, 并作为塑造后者负面形象的重要工具。 戈达德借助家族谱系研究, 把绝大多数智力缺陷塑 造成 “遗传性弱智”。 在此基础之上, 他又借助智力测试, 强调智力缺陷是造成贫困、 卖淫、 犯罪等社会问 题的重要原因, 且美国儿童智力缺陷者数量众多, “弱智者的威胁” 形象由此确立。 “弱智者的威胁” 命题 虽不是肇始于戈达德, 但他 “科学” 地论证了它的真实性, 进而推动美国在更大范围内实施婚姻限制、 隔 离和绝育等措施, 以消除智力缺陷。 实际上, 这些措施反映的是一种工具理性, 忽视了智力缺陷者的基本权 利, 同时也缺乏严谨的科学基础, 最终未能实现预期目的。

Abstract:

_"The Menace of the Feeble Minded _"was a systematic view of the mentally retarded articulated by the American scholar Henry Goddard in the early 20th century, aiming to demonstrate the necessity of social control over the mentally retarded. In 1908, Goddard took the lead in introducing the Binet-Simon Scale into the United States ,which was used to classify and identify the mentally retarded and became an important tool to shape the negative image of the latter. Goddard used family studies to portray the majority of the mentally retarded as hereditary defectives. On this basis, Goddard also used intelligence tests to demonstrate that Mental retardation was an important cause of social problems such as poverty, prostitution and crime ,and there were a large number of mentally retarded children in the United States ,thus establishing the image of _"The Menace of the Feeble Minded_" . Although Goddard was not the origin of the proposition of _"The Menace of the Feeble Minded_", he_" scientifically argued for its truth ,which led to a wider implementation of marriage restrictions ,segregation, and sterilization to eliminate mental retardation in the United States. In fact these practices reflected an instrumental rationality that ignored the fundamental rights of the mentally retarded and lacked a rigorous scientific basis, and they ultimately failed to achieve their intended goals.