Mengele's ethics: An analytical approach to understanding Josef Mengele's motives

Dr. Josef Mengele’s pseudo-scientific research at the Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II led to immeasurable suffering amongst the camp’s children. I have decided to focus on the Auschwitz children due to Mengele’s contradictory behavior towards these specific prisoners. Furthermore, I am to research his experimental trails and apply accepted medical ethics to these results in an effort to determine if they have any redeeming value, or should be completely discarded. I also plan to document Mengele’s upbringing and his personal impetus for conducting these heinous experiments. I will then analyze Mengele’s behavior through philosophical ethics in an effort to determine his ultimate goals and motivations. Moreover, I will build an ethical framework of Dr. Mengele’s research by comparing its nature to the medical trials conducted by fellow SS doctors employed in Auschwitz. Finally, I will ask whether or not it is ethical to utilize research findings collected from unethical research. My hypothesis states that Josef Mengele’s research on children is both scientifically immaterial and wholly unethical.;This thesis will begin by detailing Mengele’s evolution as a Racial Hygienist, specifically from his early roots in the Gunzberg Nazi Part to his devastating research conducted on the children of Auschwitz. I will apply both accepted medical ethics such as ‘do no harm’ and several philosophical constructs such as ‘utilitarianism’, to Mengele’s work in an attempt to eliminate any ethical ambiguity. The thesis will further analyze the overall historical impact of Josef Mengele, and determine whether or not the infamous SS doctor continued his research while evading capture in South America.;The research methods utilized were mainly available in Georgetown University’s libraries. I accessed several historical and ethical writings held in the Bioethics Research library and Lauinger Library. Furthermore, I reviewed several works from fellow DC institutions such as Catholic University and American University. Moreover, I interviewed a post-doctoral research assistant at Princeton University to gain a modern ethical perspective. Finally, I traveled to the Auschwitz concentration camp located in Oswiecim, Poland. During my visit, I gained a deeper perspective of the camp conditions and a broader understanding of the research conducted by Josef Mengele.;Unlike man of his fellow SS officers, Josef Mengele was not motivated by virulent anti-Semitism. Rather, he accepted the post to Auschwitz in an attempt to unlock the programmability of genetics. Josef Mengele eschewed his professional and social ethics in an attempt to advance his academic career, and relished the power he held over the prisoners of Auschwitz.;In conclusion, Josef Mengele’s experiments were so heinous and so evil that no good could ever have come from his trials. No matter how one assesses Mengele’s pseudo scientific merit or analyzes his results through an ethical spectrum, only one conclusion can be reached. This author strongly believes that the research conducted by Josef Mengele was professionally and philosophically unethical, and any use of his results would likewise be impermissible.