Stephen Jay Gould’s The Mismeasure of Man is an in-depth analysis and refutation of biological determinism–what Gould calls “a theory of limits” and is a “general proposition [that] holds that society follows nature, and that social rank reflects innate worth.” In the discussion of intelligence, biological determinism and the hereditarian theory of IQ has led to classist and racist beliefs that there is such a thing as an inherited, immutable intelligence factor, and that no environmental changes or study can affect it. The idea propagated by misguided scientists was that higher innate intelligence naturally leads to an elite class, while those at the bottom are constrained to their class by their genetic stupidity.
Gould traces the many ways that reifying intelligence has led to erroneous methods of assessing intelligence and the differences between humans. He describes the evolution of the study of intelligence through methods such as measuring the volume of a human skull, the belief that the races are in fact different species of human with attendant limits, assessing the shape/proportions of the skull, determining that certain physical traits indicate an unintelligent and even criminal nature, and the development of IQ tests that in most cases, with the exception of Binet, reinforced the scientist’s belief that general intelligence is an entity that can be measured. (As an aside, there is a hilarious quote from one scientific debate where a scientist writes, “I have noticed for a long time that, in general, those who deny the intellectual importance of the brain’s volume have small heads.”)
Gould is known for writing science in a way accessible to the common reader, but there are definitely lots of dense spots in this book, particularly when it comes to math, vectors, factor analysis and many other methods that went clear over my (average sized) head. Even so, Gould’s argument against a biologically determined intelligence that is unchangeable no matter the environment, was clear and very well argued and supported through extensive research and quotes from primary sources. He points out:
Intelligence, Binet told us, cannot be abstracted as a single number. IQ is a helpful device for identifying children in need of aid, not a dictate of inevitable biology. Such aid can be effective, for the human mind is, above all, flexible…most deficiencies can be mediated to a considerable degree, and the palling effect of biological determinism defines its greatest tragedy–for if we give up (because we accept the doctrine of immutable inborn limits), but could have helped, then we have committed the most grievous error of chaining the human spirit.
Further, Gould asserts: “If—as I believe I have shown—quantitative data are as subject to cultural constraint as any other aspect of science, then they have no special claim upon final truth.”
Gould also includes his essays on the fallacy of the book The Bell Curve and an exploration of racist thought over centuries.
While I did not need any convincing that works like The Bell Curve are bullshit, I appreciated the deep-dive.