Not that I disagree with this point, but Gould was a Marxist ‘thug’.  He had is own set of assumptions about human behavior and did his best to destroy those who disagreed with him.

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I have read almost all of Gould’s essays, and skeptycalone must be using some random definition for Marxist, because Gould most certainly did not espouse a view that tended to Marxism.  I’ll spare the obvious observation that Gould was not much of a philosopher.  As for being a ‘thug’, that absurd assertion is accompanied by what appears to be a remarkable display of pique.

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Brian, there are many references and links to Gould’s Marxists ideology though he never claimed to be one.  Nothing necessarily wrong with Marxism, but it’s obvious his ideals clashed with his profession regarding his feud with E.O. Wilson and Sociobiology.  I’d suggest reading Wilson’s autobiography so you can understand what Gould and Lewinton tried to do to him because of the social implications of Wilson’s theory.

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I’m not sure it is fair to group The Bell Curve along with some of the “shameful history of research into race and IQ.”  I’m not an expert by any means on the topic but from what I’ve read Murray and Herrnstein were trying to be as objective as possible.  To say that any research that looks into race is racist is creating an unnecessary taboo.  Of course, researchers need to be very careful given the history of terrible and actually racist research.  I actually haven’t read TBC yet but I believe Steven Pinker (a board member of The Reason Project) has defended TBC authors at least in general terms in The Blank Slate (and maybe elsewhere).  I’m not claiming the research was correct (i just haven’t spent enough time trying to find out) but it is probably unfair to label them racists.  The times I’ve seen or read Murray he seemed like a pretty dispassionate and earnest person.  Can anyone confirm or deny Pinker’s position on this?

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enlitnd99, I read the Bell Curve when it came out. My view was that it was not in the slightest way racist.  It was a careful and thoughtful study into a controversial topic.  I cannot even say that the conclusions reached in the book were wrong.

I suspect my impression must be right because I have not come across a single considered refutal of it that did not descend into the ad hominem. I naturally conclude that the authors are being attacked because their scholarship cannot.

If there any such articles/papers, I would be grateful if someone could point them out to me.

That aside, I will be concerned if it is considered wrong to even consider the subject.  What is the fear?

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