Stephen Jay Gould wrong about "Mismeasure of Man" (attacked objectivity)

[ShortJohnSilver]

Stephen Jay Gould wrote a book which is widely quoted and used in universities called "The Mismeasure of Man" which purports to debunk an earlier set of studies about cranial capacities amongst different races by a 19th century scientist named Morton.

However a group of scientists have examined carefully Gould's "debunking" and found he was wrong. The concept that scientists were not able to be objective using the classical scientific method was one Gould espoused - of course it was an attack on the wider culture as well, which is why it was trumpeted as such a great book.

QUOTE:
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Stephen Jay Gould, the prominent evolutionary biologist and science historian, argued that “unconscious manipulation of data may be a scientific norm” because “scientists are human beings rooted in cultural contexts, not automatons directed toward external truth” [1], a view now popular in social studies of science [2]–[4]. In support of his argument Gould presented the case of Samuel George Morton, a 19th-century physician and physical anthropologist famous for his measurements of human skulls. Morton was considered the objectivist of his era, but Gould reanalyzed Morton's data and in his prize-winning book The Mismeasure of Man [5] argued that Morton skewed his data to fit his preconceptions about human variation. Morton is now viewed as a canonical example of scientific misconduct. But did Morton really fudge his data? Are studies of human variation inevitably biased, as per Gould, or are objective accounts attainable, as Morton attempted? We investigated these questions by remeasuring Morton's skulls and reexamining both Morton's and Gould's analyses. Our results resolve this historical controversy, demonstrating that Morton did not manipulate data to support his preconceptions, contra Gould. In fact, the Morton case provides an example of how the scientific method can shield results from cultural biases.
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http://www.plosbiology.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pbio.1001071

[Agrippa]

He wasn't "wrong", he was lying. He is a believer in democracy and government, but is sufficiently smart to realize the potential for really horrific public policy under such a system if the masses don't believe the "right things". Gould took it upon himself to educate the masses in the necessary untruths. Every believer in democracy and government should thank him....

[StreetsOfGold]

"Stephen Jay Gould, the prominent evolutionary biologist"

Yep, he's a dunce but ONLY dunces are considered "prominent biologist" not ANY creationist

Whenever the Bible makes a scientific statement, it is always proven correct after man has discovered all of the relevant facts. In the Library of the Louvre in Paris there are 3.5 miles of obsolete science books on the shelves. In 1861 the French Academy of Science published a list of 51 'scientific facts' which supposedly contradicted the Bible. Today all 51 of these 'facts' are unacceptable to modern scientists

[osoab]

Interesting Wiki profile. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould)


Stephen Jay Gould (September 10, 1941 – May 20, 2002) was an American paleontologist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleontology), evolutionary biologist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution), and historian of science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science). He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_science) of his generation.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-Shermer2002-0) Gould spent most of his career teaching at Harvard University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University) and working at the American Museum of Natural History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Museum_of_Natural_History) in New York. In the latter years of his life, Gould also taught biology and evolution at New York University (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_University) near his home in SoHo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoHo).Biography


Gould was born and raised in the community of Bayside (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayside,_Queens), a quiet suburb located in the Queens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens) borough (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borough_%28New_York_City%29) of New York City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City). His father Leonard was a court stenographer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Court_reporter), and his mother Eleanor was an artist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artist). When Gould was five years old, his father took him to the Hall of Dinosaurs in the American Museum of Natural History (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Museum_of_Natural_History), where he first encountered Tyrannosaurus rex (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyrannosaurus). "I had no idea there were such things—I was awestruck," Gould once recalled.[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-Green86-3) It was in that moment that he decided to become a paleontologist.
Raised in a secular Jewish home, Gould did not formally practice religion and preferred to be called an agnostic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic).[3] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-noma-2) Though he "had been brought up by a Marxist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism) father," he has stated that his father's politics were "very different" from his own.[5] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-SET-4) In describing his own political views, he has said they "tend to the left of center."[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-Gould_dep-5) According to Gould the most influential political books he read were C. Wright Mills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Wright_Mills)' The Power Elite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elite) and the political writings of Noam Chomsky (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noam_Chomsky).[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-Gould_dep-5)
While attending Antioch College (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioch_College) in the early 1960s, Gould was active in the civil rights movement (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African-American_Civil_Rights_Movement_%281955%E2%80%93196 8%29) and often campaigned for social justice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_justice). When he attended the University of Leeds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Leeds) as a visiting undergraduate, he organized weekly demonstrations outside a Bradford (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford) dance hall which refused to admit Blacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people). Gould continued these demonstrations until the policy was revoked.[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-6) Throughout his career and writings, he spoke out against cultural oppression (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppression) in all its forms, especially what he saw as the pseudoscience (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience) used in the service of racism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism) and sexism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexism).[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-7)

Gould was also an advocate of medical marijuana. During his bout with cancer, he smoked the illegal drug to alleviate the nausea associated with his medical treatments. According to Gould, his use of marijuana had a "most important effect" on his eventual recovery.[11] In 1998 he testified in the case of Jim Wakeford, a Canadian medical-marijuana user and activist.Against "Sociobiology"


In 1975, E. O. Wilson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson) introduced his analysis of human behavior based on a sociobiological framework.[27] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-26) In response, Gould, Richard Lewontin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lewontin), and others (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology_Study_Group) from the Boston (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston) area wrote the subsequently well referenced letter to The New York Review of Books (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Review_of_Books) titled "Against 'Sociobiology'". This open letter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_letter) criticised Wilson's notion of a "deterministic view of human society and human action."[28] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-27)
But Gould did not rule out sociobiological explanations for many aspects of animal behavior, writing: "Sociobiologists have broadened their range of selective stories by invoking concepts of inclusive fitness and kin selection to solve (successfully I think) the vexatious problem of altruism—previously the greatest stumbling block to a Darwinian theory of social behavior. . . . Here sociobiology has had and will continue to have success. And here I wish it well. For it represents an extension of basic Darwinism to a realm where it should apply."[29] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Jay_Gould#cite_note-28)


So he was a Harvard lad, went to school in England, Jewish, and endorsed medial cannabis.

So far I can only find one concrete thing I like about him. Butting heads with E.O. Wilson caught my attention too.

[ShortJohnSilver]

http://infoproc.blogspot.com/2011/06/high-v-low-m.html

Absolutely AWESOME follow-up, if I do say so myself ... this guy nails it on Gould and writers for the "intelligentsia" in general...