[lbo-talk] Zero Sum » The mishmashing of Gould: scientific method and bias

// ravi ravi at platosbeard.org
Mon Jul 25 14:24:51 PDT 2011


FWIW:

My take on recent proclamations derived from supposed errors in Stephen Jay Gould’s analysis of Morton’s skull data:

http://0sum.org/archives/122

Summary: a reexamination of Gould’s analysis of Morton’s cranial measurements finds that Morton’s data is free of the errors claimed by Gould, and the claim is made that this finding invalidates Gould’s thesis that scientific theorising is influenced by the prejudices of scientists. I argue otherwise: (a) Gould’s example being wrong, even if true does not imply that his thesis is wrong, (b) the argument developed by Gould’s critic caricatures his position and presents a naive view of scientific method.

Comments and feedback are always greatly appreciated,

—ravi



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