I second Molly's sentiment -- I am drawn to xmca because of its
interdisicplinary charter and, having been trained as a physicist, I
benefit often from discussion of broadly influential work by folks like
Jensen. The reviews you have posted, Mike, shed light not only on Jensens
work, but on the viability of our own understanding.
The reviews, and reactions on the list, raise questions, especially
concerning the integration of overlapping biotic, abiotic, psychic, and
cultural elements. I am particularly interested in the claims in Brace's
review regarding evolution and cultural influence that, at first blush,
link to the adiabatic principle Jay describes and what evidence supports
it, how Hunt's points numbers 15 and 16 regarding the improvements in g
among prior lower performers can be reconciled with the statement that all
the while we don't know how to 'engineer' the conditions that lead to these
improvements, to the strong claim made that the field of 'cultural
psychology' (my paraphrase) does not match the causal and predictive powers
of genetics, and finally there is the relationships between qualitative
work and the methods for defining categories that afford 'counting' within
and among those categories (jensen's work is one case), and how the
insights that counting affords then reflect back onto the qualitative work,
(Hunt's points 15, 16 for example).
Bill Barowy, Associate Professor
Lesley College, 31 Everett Street, Cambridge, MA 02138-2790
Phone: 617-349-8168 / Fax: 617-349-8169
http://www.lesley.edu/faculty/wbarowy/Barowy.html
_______________________
"One of life's quiet excitements is to stand somewhat apart from yourself
and watch yourself softly become the author of something beautiful."
[Norman Maclean in "A river runs through it."]
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