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Gould: incompetent or deceitful?

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  • Gould: incompetent or deceitful?

    Originally posted by Blog of Carlos Slim
    In a 1981 book, “The Mismeasure of Man,” the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould asserted that Morton, believing that brain size was a measure of intelligence, had subconsciously manipulated the brain volumes of European, Asian and African skulls to favor his bias that Europeans had larger brains and Africans smaller ones.

    But now physical anthropologists at the University of Pennsylvania, which owns Morton’s collection, have remeasured the skulls, and in an article that does little to burnish Dr. Gould’s reputation as a scholar, they conclude that almost every detail of his analysis is wrong.

    Dr. Gould did not measure any of the skulls himself but merely did a paper reanalysis of Morton’s results. He accused Morton of various subterfuges, like leaving out subgroups to manipulate a group’s overall score. When these errors were corrected, Dr. Gould said, “there are no differences to speak of among Morton’s races.”

    But Dr. Gould himself omitted subgroups in his own reanalysis, and made various errors in his calculations. When these are corrected, the differences between the racial categories recognized by Morton are as he assigned them. “Ironically, Gould’s own analysis of Morton is likely the stronger example of a bias influencing results,” the Pennsylvania team writes.

    As for the new finding’s bearing on Dr. Gould’s reputation, Dr. Kitcher said: “Steve doesn’t come out as a rogue but as someone who makes mistakes. If Steve were around he would probably defend himself with great ingenuity.”

    But Ralph L. Holloway, an expert on human evolution at Columbia and a co-author of the new study, was less willing to give Dr. Gould benefit of the doubt.

    “I just didn’t trust Gould,” he said. “I had the feeling that his ideological stance was supreme. When the 1996 version of ‘The Mismeasure of Man’ came and he never even bothered to mention Michael’s study, I just felt he was a charlatan.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/14/science/14skull.html
    Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

  • #2
    Originally posted by demi-conservative View Post
    Did you have a point in posting a non-story from 2011?

    Comment


    • #3
      Looks like the claims from the 2011 paper the OP author is LOL-ing about were revisited in 2014 where Gould's case against Morton was vindicated.

      Remeasuring Man
      Weisberg
      EVOLUTION & DEVELOPMENT, 16:3, p. 166-178 (2014)

      Summary: Samuel George Morton (1799–1851) was the most highly regarded American scientist of the early and middle 19th century. Thanks largely to Stephen Jay Gould's book The Mismeasure of Man, Morton's cranial capacity measurements of different races is now held up as a prime example of and cautionary tale against scientific racism. A team of anthropologists recently reevaluated Morton's work and argued that it was Gould, not Morton, who was biased in his analysis. This article is a reexamination of the Morton and Gould controversy. It argues that most of Gould's arguments against Morton are sound. Although Gould made some errors and overstated his case in a number of places, he provided prima facia evidence, as yet unrefuted, that Morton did indeed mismeasure his skulls in ways that conformed to 19th century racial biases. Gould's critique of Morton ought to remain as an illustration of implicit bias in science
      AFAICT that has been the latest word on the "controversy".

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      • #4
        Originally posted by HMS_Beagle View Post
        Looks like the claims from the 2011 paper the OP author is LOL-ing about were revisited in 2014 where Gould's case against Morton was vindicated.

        AFAICT that has been the latest word on the "controversy".
        Revisit by philosopher, yes!!

        He can say what he wants, but does he have authority of expert in field? Answer: no!!!
        Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by demi-conservative View Post
          Revisit by philosopher, yes!!

          He can say what he wants, but does he have authority of expert in field? Answer: no!!!
          Philosopher of science who specializes in biology.

          I'm always still in trouble again

          "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
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          • #6
            Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
            Philosopher of science who specializes in biology.
            From experience, philosophers of science who specialize in fields often have pretty significant backgrounds in said field.

            David Albert (Columbia) is a philosopher of physics with a PhD in theoretical physics.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by HMS_Beagle View Post
              Looks like the claims from the 2011 paper the OP author is LOL-ing about were revisited in 2014 where Gould's case against Morton was vindicated.



              AFAICT that has been the latest word on the "controversy".
              p good outline of how weak gould's case was and how the original assessment of his work was accurate. it also outlines how gould's statements themselves have been grossly blown out of proportion. anti-raycissm activists think he put a stake in the scientific racism vampire when in reality he just accused morton of some small unconscious bias.
              "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

              There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by rogue06 View Post
                Philosopher of science who specializes in biology.
                the paper linked by beagle does requires no biological knowledge whatsoever and barely enters the realm of math. it's almost entirely philosophical.
                "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Isaiah 3:12

                There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Darth Executor View Post
                  the paper linked by beagle does requires no biological knowledge whatsoever and barely enters the realm of math. it's almost entirely philosophical.
                  LOL! What an incredibly stupid thing to claim. It's obvious you didn't even bother to look at the contents of the paper.

                  Comment

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