The Inequality Taboo
I'm drawn to taboos. Now, don't get me wrong--I have no patience for Holocaust deniers or conspiracy theories. What I mean is that I find that some discussions generate such immediate heat and outrage that I'm convinced passion displaces intellect. I'm very interested in intelligence--I wish I had more of it, or could buy it somewhere--and I've been following the "intellect wars" sporadically for years. On the one side are people like Charles Murray of The Bell Curve fame, who advocates a standard position in the realm of intelligence research, that intelligence can be represented as a single value, "g," and can be measured accurately by IQ tests. If that position is correct, there are some very controversial implications having to do with sex and race. I find this article to be convincing, but to be fair to the other side I went out today to buy Howard Gardner's Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. I've been acquainted with the outlines of the theory for a long time. Frankly, I've thought it was affirmative action for the intellect, but tonight I'll sit back with an ice tea and skim the book before I say that in public tomorrow.
posted by Paco Pond | 7:42 PM
2 Comments:
I pointed out to Howard Gardner, and he agreed, that his multiple intelligence theory makes racial and gender equality in intelligence inherently less plausible than Arthur Jensen's single g factor theory. See, if there are 8 different "intelligences," than the chance that each one is the same among all races (or between both sexes) is negligible. But if the only thing that matters is g, then the a priori chance that it is the same between a few races is substantial.
As it turns out, apparently g is not the same among major races, but, according to Jensen, the level of g is the same on average between the sexes.
I recommend you nuke the comment above this; it's clearly sp*m.
I'd like to read a followup here, on what you make of the book you said you were reading.
Thanks for the comment on my blog. I will be turning my attention back to it (the blog, that is) in the coming days, and appreciate your coming by.
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