raghu wrote: > On 10/26/07, Charles Brown <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > The subject matter here is anthropology, the human species, and > > so-called races. > > > Two interesting commentaries on the Watson controversy. > > One is a counterpunch.org article that has a nice explanation of why > questions about race and intelligence cannot be intelligently posed, > leave alone scientifically answered.
one thing: we need to dump the idea of "intelligence" as something that can be measured using a single number (IQ). Intelligence is multidimensional. Howard Gardner sees intelligence as "the capacity to solve problems or to fashion products that are valued in one or more cultural setting." Using this definition and empirical work, he came out with seven different kinds of intelligence: 1. Linguistic intelligence (sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals). 2. Logical-mathematical intelligence (the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically). 3. Musical intelligence (skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns). 4. Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems). 5. Spatial intelligence (the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas). 6. Interpersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people). 7. Intrapersonal intelligence (the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations). Obviously, one can be more intelligent than other people in some ways while being less intelligent than them in other ways. source: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm my feeling is that the whole idea of unidimensional intelligence fits with the "modernist" world-view that capitalism foisted -- and is foisting -- on the world. If everything can be reduced to dollars and cents, then why can't the human brain be weighed using a single scale. Skill is multidimensional, but a worker's value to the employer can be stated solely in terms of profit and loss. Under capitalism, exchange-value dominates and destroys use-value. -- Jim Devine / "The trick for radicals has been and will be to make of earth a heaven, but without blind faith." -- Mike Yates.
