By Stephen Jay Gould
The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve.
while released in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man used to be instantly hailed as a masterwork, the ringing solution to those that could classify humans, rank them in line with their meant genetic presents and bounds.
And but the assumption of innate limits―of biology as destiny―dies not easy, as witness the eye dedicated to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are the following so successfully expected and punctiliously undermined by way of Stephen Jay Gould. during this variation Dr. Gould has written a considerable new creation telling how and why he wrote the publication and tracing the following heritage of the talk on innateness all through The Bell Curve. additional, he has additional 5 essays on questions of The Bell Curve specifically and on race, racism, and organic determinism ordinarily. those additions improve the book's declare to be, as Leo J. Kamin of Princeton college has stated, "a significant contribution towards deflating pseudo-biological 'explanations' of our current social woes."
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Extra resources for The Mismeasure of Man (Revised & Expanded)
A g a s s i z additionally b e c a m e t h e l e a d i n g s p o ok e s m a n f o r p o l y g e n y i n A m e r i c a . H e d i d n o t b r i n g this t h e o r y w i t h h i m f r o m E u r o p e . H e c o n v e r t e d t o t h e d o c t r i n e o f h u m a n r a c e s a s s e p a r a t e species a f t e r his f i r s t e x p e r i e n c e s w i t h A m e r i c a n blacks. A g a s s i z d i d n o t e m b r a c e p o l y g e n y a s a c o n s c i o u s political d o c t r i n e . H e n e v e r d o u b t e d the p r o p r i e t y o f racial r a n okay i n g , b u t h e d i d c o u n t h i m s e l f a m o n g t h e o p p o n e n t s o f slavery. His a d h e r e n c e t o p o l y g e n y f l o w e d simply f r o m p r o c e d u r e s o f b i o l o g i c a l r e s e a r c h that h e h a d d e v e l o p e d i n o t h e r a n d e a r l i e r c o n t e x t s . H e was once, f i r s t o f all, a d e v o u t c r e a t i o n i s t w h o lived l o n g e n o u g h t o b e c o m e the o n l y m a j o r clinical o p p o n e n t o f e v o l u t i o n . B u t n e a r l y all scientists w e r e c r e ationists b e f o r e 1 eight five nine , a n d m o s t d i d n o t b e c o m e p o l y g e n i s t s (racial d i f f e r e n t i a t i o n w i t h i n a unmarried species p o s e d no t h r e a t to t h e d o c t r i n e o f designated c r e a t i o n — j u s t c o n s i d e r b r e e d s o f d o g s a n d cattle). A g a s s i z ' s p r e d i s p o s i t i o n t o p o l y g e n y a r o s e p r i m a r i l y f r o m t w o asp e c t s o f his p e r s o n a l t h e o r i e s a n d m e t h o d s : 1. I n s t u d y i n g t h e g e o g r a p h i c d i s t r i b u t i o n o f a n i m a l s a n d p l a n t s , Agassiz constructed a thought approximately "centers of production. " He believed t h a t species w e r e c r a t e d i n t h e i r p r o p e r p l a c e s a n d d i d n o t g e n e r a l l y migrate a long way f r o m those facilities. O t h e r b i o g e o g r a p h e r s invoked crea t i o n in a s i n g l e s p o t w i t h e x t e n s i v e m i g r a t i o n t h e r e a f t e r . T h u s , w h e n A g a s s i z s t u d i e d w h a t w e w o u l d n o w r e g a r d a s a unmarried w i d e s p r e a d s p e c i e s , d i v i d e d into really specific g e o g r a p h i c a l r a c e s , h e t e n d e d t o n a m e s e v e r a l s e p a r a t e s p e c i e s , e a c h c r e a t e d a t its c e n t e r of o r i g i n . Homo sapiens is a p r i m a r y e x a m p l e of a c o s m o p o l i t a n , variable species. 6 7 T H E M I S M E A S U R E O F M A N 2. A g a s s i z w a s an e x t r e m e splitter in his t a x c n o . n i c perform. T a x o n o m i s t s t e n d t o fall i n t o t w o c a m p s — " l u m p e r s , " w h o c o n c e n trate o n similarities a n d a m a l g a m a t e g r o u p s with small d i f f e r e n c e s into unmarried s p e c i e s , a n d " s p l i t t e r s , " w h o f o c u s o n m i n u t e differences a n d determine species o n t h e smallest peculiarities o f d e s i g n . A g a s s i z was once a splitter a m o n g splitters.