I apologize, I should have included more context. While the quote by Gould is obviously true in a literal sense, Gould himself was in the business of debunking

I apologize, I should have included more context. While the quote by Gould is obviously true in a literal sense, Gould himself was in the business of debunking "biological determinism" [1]. In that light, the quote is an admission that he does not care about truth, that his research is a mere means to, or foundation for, a political end. I.e. Lysenkoism. [1] Calling it "determinism" sets up a clever strawman by giving the impression that only genes matter, and environment has no effect. Strengthening the strawman case is how his book on the subject devotes many pages to debunking 19th century science. And doesn't even get that right: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mismeasure_of_Man#Reassessing_Morton's_skull_measurements https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mismeasure_of_Man#Reassess...