Exposes the fatal flaws in the ranking of people according to their supposed gifts and limits by discussing the development of the theory of limits and by reanalyzing the data on which it is based
A renowned teacher and writer of science and history of science at Harvard, Gould (1941-2002) challenges assertions of biological determinism in a volume first published in 1981 and in a revised edition in 1996 that specifically addressed claims Arthur Jensen made in his 1994 The Bell Curve. That edition is reprinted here as part of a series of paper editions of his major works. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
When published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man was immediately hailed as a masterwork, the ringing answer to those who would classify people, rank them according to their supposed genetic gifts and limits.Yet the idea of biology as destiny dies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined. In this edition, Stephen Jay Gould has written a substantial new introduction telling how and why he wrote the book and tracing the subsequent history of the controversy on innateness right through The Bell Curve. Further, he has added five essays on questions of The Bell Curve in particular and on race, racism, and biological determinism in general. These additions strengthen the book's claim to be, as Leo J. Kamin of Princeton University has said, "a major contribution toward deflating pseudo-biological 'explanations' of our present social woes."
The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve.