Re: [xmca] Nobel prize talks stupid things about human intelligence

David P,

It remains diffuse to me what you mean by "doing science." The Steve Connor
comment says a lot of things (as already mentioned: representing a more
balanced view). The issue here (as far as I am concerned) is not to decide "who
is right" (that would be outside the scope of my competence, anyway) but rather
to emphasize the scholarly legitimacy or value of conflicting views, of
multivocal/polyphonic (or, perhaps, cacophonic) discourses. The papers you
referred to earlier, seem to me to represent that kind of "cacophony."

Eirik.

On 2007-10-22, at 22:08, David Preiss wrote:
> Eirik,
>
> The Steve Connor comment you send us (second link below) tells
> exactly why JW was not doing science at all. Particularly, why you
> can't infer from an heritability ratio a conclusion about the
> intelligence of people that works with you (as Watson say). On the
> other hand, something can be statistically heritable and not genetic
> at all. A nice explanation is in the Sternberg, Grigorenko and Kidd
> paper I sent before.
> David
>
>
> David
>
> On Oct 22, 2007, at 3:16 PM, E. Knutsson wrote:
>
>> Amanda,
>>
>> JW's comment (http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/
>> article3075642.ece)
>> concludes with this request: "[W]e as scientists, wherever we wish
>> to place
>> ourselves in this great debate, should take care in claiming what are
>> unarguable truths without the support of evidence."
>>
>> Some of the other comments also seem to give a more balanced view:
>>
>> http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article3070538.ece
>>
>> http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article3075640.ece
>>
>> "Curtailing free debate is almost always a mistake. Allowing
>> scientists and
>> individuals to air their theories openly does not validate them. On
>> the
>> contrary it allows them to be refuted."
>>
>> Eirik.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2007-10-21, at 01:26, Amanda Brovold wrote:
>>> Just for the record, it sounds to me as if Watson has suggested he
>>> may have
>>> been misquoted. In the article linked to 3 messages below he
>>> says: "I can
>>> understand much of this reaction. For if I said what I was quoted as
>>> saying, then I can only admit that I am bewildered by it. To
>>> those who have
>>> drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is
>>> somehow
>>> genetically inferior, I can only apologise unreservedly. This is
>>> not what I
>>> meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no
>>> scientific basis
>>> for such a belief." I am not sure why the first two sentences of
>>> this quote
>>> are generally left off when it is repeated. Such common
>>> occurrences though
>>> (even on this very list) lead me to believe it is plausible that
>>> what Watson
>>> said my not have been as appalling as what has been passed around
>>> makes it
>>> seem. I agree that it seems certain he has a view I very much
>>> disagree with
>>> and seems to be contradicted by the preponderance of evidence.
>>> However, I
>>> find un-thoughtful knee-jerk responses to such views to be at
>>> least as
>>> dangerous as the views themselves. I have heard people stress
>>> that it is
>>> important for academics to respond appropriately to events such as
>>> these. I
>>> very much agree, it is important for experts in the relevant
>>> fields to
>>> correct any misunderstandings that stories like this are likely to
>>> perpetuate. It is also extremely important though for the academy to
>>> remember that academic freedom is absolutely vital. As appalling
>>> as views
>>> expressed by one academic may be, the expression of controversial
>>> view
>>> points simply cannot be allowed to threaten the protections
>>> necessary for
>>> inquiry to be carried out.
>>>
>>> Something else to consider, phrased a different way, I feel
>>> confident that
>>> many people outraged by Watson's remarks would agree that in fact
>>> there are
>>> differences in the intelligences of different people, often
>>> correlated with
>>> differences in culture. These are not differences in terms of one
>>> being
>>> overall superior to another, but I do not think that reading is
>>> forced by
>>> the words that have been quoted without context, even if they are
>>> accurate.
>>> It is at least possible that Watson, as he now seems to claim,
>>> really meant
>>> to refer to differences without evaluating them. And isn't the
>>> recognition
>>> of the complexity of intelligence one of the things that makes
>>> many of the
>>> outraged so upset about IQ testing?
>>>
>>> -Amanda
>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> xmca mailing list
>> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
>
> David Preiss, Ph.D.
> Subdirector de Extensión y Comunicaciones
> Escuela de Psicología
> Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
> Av Vicuña Mackenna 4860
> Macul, Santiago
> Chile
>
> Fono: 3544605
> Fax: 3544844
> e-mail: davidpreiss@uc.cl
> web personal: http://web.mac.com/ddpreiss/
> web institucional: http://www.epuc.cl/profesores/dpreiss
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> xmca mailing list
> xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
> http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca

_______________________________________________
xmca mailing list
xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
http://dss.ucsd.edu/mailman/listinfo/xmca
Received on Mon Oct 22 17:05 PDT 2007