From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Sat Jun 19 2004 - 14:17:28 BST
Hi All,
MSH writes
> Right on que, Platt mentions "The Bell Curve" as scientific evidence
> in support of the idea that one "race" of humans is inferior to
> another. I was wrong when I said no scientific evidence exists to
> support this statement; I should have said no CREDIBLE scientific
> evidence.
Belief in what constitutes credible scientific evidence often depends on
which scientists you believe are credible. For example, MSH finds S. J.
Gould credible while I find E.O. Wilson credible. Both scientists present
widely different views.
> Platt is also impressed by an advertisement for the book which
> appeared in The Wall Street Journal. As an old ad man himself, Platt
> should know better. The ad is a statement signed by 52 "experts",
> and is easy to find on the web, if one is interested.
>
> If you look at the Pioneer Fund web site, you'll see that EVERY major
> grantee, who happened to be alive at the time the ad was composed, is
> listed among the "expert" signatories. Others of the signatories have
> published papers in the fascist journal, Mankind, which is maintained by
> Pioneer funds, or in other similar journals. Still others are associated
> with studies paid for by the fund, such as Bouchard's study of Identical
> Twins Reared Apart (all the University of Minnesota people on the list).
MSH employs the tactic of McCarthyism to argue his point--the fallacy of
Guilt by Association. "Are you now or have you ever been a grantee of the
Pioneer Fund?" I had hoped for better.
> Although there is much in the ad that non-racist scientists would and do
> agree with, the main source of contention would be that IQ test results are
> determined primarily by genetic factors, and about the significance of IQ
> tests in determining an individual's value to, and success in, a given
> society. Here's Stephen J. Gould:
Gould is hardly the last word on the subject. E. O. Wilson, speaking of
Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Lewontin, writes:
"They disliked the idea, to put it mildly, that human nature could have
any genetic basis at all. They championed the opposing view that the
developing human brain is a tabula rosa. The only human nature, they said,
is an indefinitely flexible mind. Theirs was the standard position taken
by Marxists from the late 1920s forward: the ideal political economy is
socialism and the tabula rosa mind of people can be fitted to it. A mind
arising from a genetic human nature might not prove conformable."
So in case anyone is wondering, the issue of intelligence and race is far
from settled. Values, of course, are never considered to play a role at
the biological level by either faction in the ongoing debate. Science is
locked in the box of only that which can be measured. Which is why I find
metaphysics a far more interesting subject. :-)
Best,
Platt
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