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It's unfortunate that Gould's works are often pushed by those with an agenda and fit his work to an ideology. Not sure if he would mind too much though, but ma

It's unfortunate that Gould's works are often pushed by those with an agenda and fit his work to an ideology. Not sure if he would mind too much though, but many do this. 1

michaelwww 13y ago
The true of Darwinism in general -- some of the same people who claim to be Christian believe in social Darwinism and survival of the fittest as they apply it to the poor and struggling. I read a couple of Gould's book many years ago and they were always very entertaining and informative.
yummyfajitas 13y ago
I doubt Gould would mind much, he himself seems to make creative errors when they support his ideology. See the example of Morton: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001071 http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjour... Or see his almost militant misunderstanding of factor analysis.
- huxley 13y ago
  The article cited disputes Gould's particular allegations about Morton's measurement bias. The authors however did not dispute his "ideological" position which does have a sound scientific and historical grounding: "In reevaluating Morton and Gould, we do not dispute that racist views were unfortunately common in 19th-century science [6] or that bias has inappropriately influenced research in some cases [16]. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that modern human variation is generally continuous, rather than discrete or 'racial', and that most variation in modern humans is within, rather than between, populations [11],[17]." Also: "Morton indeed believed in the concept of race and assigned a plethora of different attributes to various groups, often in highly racist fashion." Gould was wrong in his analysis of Morton's measurements and made his own errors but those were errors of methodology not ideology.
samuel 13y ago
I have read "The panda's Thumb" and don't know what you are referring to. Could you elaborate?

It's unfortunate that Gould's works are often pushed by those with an agenda and fit his work to an ideology. Not sure if he would mind too much though, but many do this. 1

michaelwww 13y ago

The true of Darwinism in general -- some of the same people who claim to be Christian believe in social Darwinism and survival of the fittest as they apply it to the poor and struggling. I read a couple of Gould's book many years ago and they were always very entertaining and informative.

yummyfajitas 13y ago

I doubt Gould would mind much, he himself seems to make creative errors when they support his ideology. See the example of Morton: http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001071 http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi%2F10.1371%2Fjour... Or see his almost militant misunderstanding of factor analysis.

huxley 13y ago
The article cited disputes Gould's particular allegations about Morton's measurement bias. The authors however did not dispute his "ideological" position which does have a sound scientific and historical grounding: "In reevaluating Morton and Gould, we do not dispute that racist views were unfortunately common in 19th-century science [6] or that bias has inappropriately influenced research in some cases [16]. Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that modern human variation is generally continuous, rather than discrete or 'racial', and that most variation in modern humans is within, rather than between, populations [11],[17]." Also: "Morton indeed believed in the concept of race and assigned a plethora of different attributes to various groups, often in highly racist fashion." Gould was wrong in his analysis of Morton's measurements and made his own errors but those were errors of methodology not ideology.

samuel 13y ago

I have read "The panda's Thumb" and don't know what you are referring to. Could you elaborate?