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From: mario@astrovax.UUCP (Mario Vietri)
Newsgroups: net.women
Subject: Re: envi-ornament [just what does that mean, anyway?]
Message-ID: <371@astrovax.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 5-Jun-84 20:27:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: astrovax.371
Posted: Tue Jun  5 20:27:06 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 6-Jun-84 07:09:59 EDT
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Organization: Princeton Univ. Astrophysics
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From : Mario Vietri at Princeton University Astrophysics(astrovax!mario)


I can't resist the temptation to jump on this again .
For all those who asked for specific references on cases where a nearly
inextricable knot of science and social beliefs was uncovered ...
	1) The mismeasure of man (S.J. Gould,Harvard paleontologist)
	2) Not in our genes (Lewontin,Rose,Kamin,@Harvard,Open University,
	   Priceton,geneticist,neurobiologist,psychologist)
	3) The radicalisation of science (Hillary and Steven Rose,Open 
	   University,...,neurobiologist)
	4) The political economy of science (Hillary and Steven Rose,as above).
	... and references therein .

Assorted topics you can find discussed in these books :
	a) Paul Broca and the correlation between brain size and intelligence
	b) Lombroso and criminals
	c) Goddard and the restriction to immigration on the basis of 
	   test scores
	d) Sir Cyril Burt, Spearman, Galton and the falsification of 
	   scientific evidence in IQ tests
	e) The theory of schizophrenia and its social use 
	f) Sociobiology 
	g) Discrimination against women in the physical sciences 
... and much,much more .

In particular,'Not in our genes' contains a first rate discussion of the fallacy
of 'biological determinism'. 

Just one comment aimed at Lisa Chabot when she says that W.Hughes's original
only mistake was to have suggested that everybody is unfair .
There are only two ways in which this statement would be understandable:
first, if we could accept that only a scientific issue was being raised here.
Even in this case, though, reading of ANY OF THE PREVIOUS BOOKS will 
persuade you that the QUALITY OF THE SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH carried out by
biological determinists does not deserve such concern :the worst, most
prejudiced,most unfair research probably ever done is that carried out
under the egida of biological determinism .Any of the books above can be 
used as a reference for this .

The only other possibility is that there were no history,
if humankind had no collective memory to remember the crimes committed in the
name of biological determinism . Maybe you (Lisa) ought to read the Epilogue
of 'The mismeasure of man' , where the story is told of how the state of 
Virginia castrated 7500 people between 1925 and 1972 , on the basis of the idea
that those who sap the strengths of the country (i.e. by definition = those
whose IQ scores are lower than ...) should not have a right to
reproduce themselves (unperfectly quoted from a sentence of the U.S. Supreme
Court which upheld the law ). The victims consisted mostly of white men
and women , mostly 'UNWED MOTHERS,PROSTITUTES,PETTY CRIMINALS AND CHILDREN
WITH A DISCIPLINARY PROBLEM ' (verbatim, 'The mismeasure of man', quoting
from 'The Washington Post',2/23/1980). A rogue gallery of crimes committed
by those who claimed that the opponents of biological determinism were not
fair , and that we should all keep an open mind as to the results of these
researches ( and to their methods, I would like to add) is contained in 
'Not in our genes' .
Ignorance is no excuse . Asking that we keep an open mind on such issues,
is exactly the equivalent of demanding that we keep an
open mind on the responsibilities of German war criminals in the carrying
out of the Holocaust . (In fact, in 'Not in our genes', you can find quoted
a passage (with references) by Medicine Nobel Prize winner Konrad Lorenz
justifying the Holocaust on genetic grounds ). 
		Enjoy .

				Mario Vietri
	
		Princeton University Astrophysics 
	(akgua,allegra,kpno,ihnp4,cbosgd)astrovax!mario