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The Mismeasure of Man (Revised & Expanded)
The Mismeasure of Man (Revised & Expanded) | Stephen Jay Gould
3 posts | 7 read | 14 to read
The definitive refutation to the argument of The Bell Curve. 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. And yet the idea of innate limitsof biology as destinydies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined by Stephen Jay Gould. In this edition Dr. 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."
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review
RJHowe
Pickpick

So much more than a simple refutation of the Bell Curve. This book explores the history of the idea of measuring and judging man in a scientific way, and often that has gone wrong and led to tragedy. Written with Gould's typical eloquence and clarity it is a joy to read. Considering the current revival on the study of race in science by others less humane and thoughtful than Gould, this book is more relevant than ever.

quote
AngelaG1
post image

“We pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.”

quote
GoneFishing

We pass through this world but once. Few tragedies can be more extensive than the stunting of life, few injustices deeper than the denial of an opportunity to strive or even to hope, by a limit imposed from without, but falsely identified as lying within.

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