Gould's The Mismeasure of Man

Gould's book The Mismeasure of Man, is not so much a book that promotes a thesis of his own as a book that studies a thesis other people believed and how they used the doctrine of evolution to support it. After chapter 1, in which Gould quotes Plato's attempt to use the propaganda of innate (and therefore unchangeable) differences, In chapter two Gould states the following:

This books treats an argument that, to many people's surprise, seems to be a latecomer: biological determinism, the notion that people at the bottom are constructed of intrinsically inferior material (poor brains, bad genes, or whatever). Plato, as we have seen, cautiously floated this proposal in the Republic, but finally branded it as a lie (31).

Gould then goes into description, with some anecdotes, of "the impact of science" and how it was used as an excuse to justify what already was in the hearts of those in power. Gould quotes Darwin on the book's frontispiece: "If the misery of our poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institution, great is our sin." Darwin could not face the guilt of his sin (complicity with the institutions of his society) and so invented the idea of macro-evolution from observing micro-evolution. In the same way, Darwin's ideas of "natural selection" and the "survival of that which is most fit to the environment it inhabits" were used by those in power to justify their remaining in power while mistreating those who were not. In the same way that Darwin had no

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respect" only puts himself in the same category as these men. When he adds "all leading scientists followed social conventions" he is only saying that he too, is then following social conventions in honoring these men he calls scientists. That doesn't mean they were right. As these men sought to separate humans into classes based on a predetermined characteristic they valued, so schools also separate their charges into categories determined to be valid beforehand. Children in schools, particularly public schools, are placed in groups of about 30 children based solely on the child's age. This is ironic. Spearman, Burt, et al. were assigning intelligence as the factor that determined a human being's worth, exclusive of that human being's other positive qualities. (Gould in fact on p. 126 quotes Lombroso as an example, describing an already condemned group's positive qualities in such a way that they are as negative as laziness or theft.) These men's choice of intelligence over love or patience may be because they themselves had succeeded in life through their own intelligence. For the most part, this belief of racial superiority by intelligence is now discredited, and if there is a place where it is not, Gould's book does a very go

Category: Science - G