Charles Murray

Daniel drdq at m5.sprynet.com
Thu Feb 4 11:32:30 PST 1999


Rakesh wrote: "Heritability thus does not enable a measure of some essential or inherent attributes of organisms."

This does accord with Lewontin's view, according to my reading. But, I like the expression of this that I heard from the chairman of the President's Commission on Race (Franklin?). He told of his life-long interest in orchids. According to Franklin, orchids are NOT hard to grow. If one simply understands their needs, they will flourish. This is probably no mystery to the average farmer. Here, again, we see how a scientist (Lewontin) can make a tremendous contribution only by debunking the erroneous conclusions of his scientific peers. Call it negative science: in my opinion, one of the most important projects of our time. (Indeed, I think Lewontin has recently published something about the excessive claims of science.)

Quincy



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list