Hiram Caton

The Case of Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution

Publishers details for: The Case of Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution by Elisabeth A. Lloyd, (2005), Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 311 pp,

The theory of biology and the education of biologists: A case study

US27.95, ISBN 0674017064.

Getting Our History Right: Six Errors about Darwin and His Influence

ABSTRACT A set of questions on evolutionary theory and the philosophy of biology was given to students of zoology at three levels: third-year undergraduates (23); fourth year, honours (13); graduates (25). Answering was voluntary. The responses were assessed independently by a zoologist, an educator and a philosopher. None of the students failed conventional courses, but each author ‘failed˚s nearly half the students; sixteen were ‘failed˚s by all three authors. There was little evidence of a general, critical understanding of the concept of natural selection. About two-thirds of students accepted natural selection as an axiom or dogma. About half understood ‘tautologous˚s. Most students regarded physics and biology as fundamentally similar, and more than half held all biology to be ultimately reducible to physical science. Very few understood the significance of refutable propositions in science. We suggest that these findings reflect a general trend, related to the specialisation of biological teaching;...

The Mead/Freeman controversy is over : A retrospect

The Darwin Exhibition created by the American Museum of Natural History is the centerpiece of the bicentennial of Darwins birth. It opened in November 2005 and will circulate to a number of museums before terminating at the London Natural History Museum in February 2009. The Exhibition is also a major contributor to online instruction about evolution for schools. The quality of the Exhibitions narrative is accordingly of some significance. This paper argues that the narrative is the legendary history that dominates public opinion. The legend has been thoroughly disassembled by historical research over recent decades. My criticism is organized as six theses. (1) Publication of the Origin was not a sudden (“revolutionary”) interruption of Victorian societys confident belief in the traditional theological world-view. (2) The Origin did not “revolutionize” the biological sciences by removing the creationist premise or introducing new principles. (3) The Origin did not revolutionize Victorian public opinion. The public considered Darwin and Spencer to be teaching the same lesson, known today as “Social Darwinism”, which, though fashionable, never achieved dominance. (4) Many biologists expressed significant disagreements with Darwins principles. (5) Darwin made little or no contribution to the renovation of theology. His public statements on Providence were inconsistent and the liberal reform of theology was well advanced by 1850. (6) The so-called “Darwinian revolution” was, at the public opinion level, the fashion of laissez-faire economic beliefs backed by Darwin and Spencers inclusion of the living world in the economic paradigm.

The Limits of Democratization: Climate, Intelligence, and Resource Distribution Tatu Vanhanen (2009). Atlanta, GA: Washington Summit Publishers, 362 pp, US

Seventeen years after Derek Freeman launched his bid to reform anthropology by refuting the ostensible key text of Boasian anthropology, the situation remains at stalemate, with Freeman claiming “ungainsayable” evidence for “closure,” whereas his critics claim that his own refutation has been refuted. But no group of anthropologists espouses Freemans “interactionist” paradigm, and no studies in anthropological method written since the commencement of the controversy recognize it as a significant contribution to the field. I argue that the Freeman reform of anthropology has no progeny because its basic game plan is not in alignment with the anthropological problem-set that he would reform. Several key examples of misalignment are discussed, including the hoaxing hypothesis.

21.95, ISBN: 978-1-59368-031-2.

Review(s) of: The Limits of Democratization: Climate, Intelligence, and Resource Distribution, by Tatu Vanhanen (2009). Atlanta, GA: Washington Summit Publishers, 362 pp, US

Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human Matt Ridley (2003). New York: HarperCollins. 328pp, US

21.95, ISBN: 978-1-59368-031-2.

25.95, ISBN 1-84115-745-7.

Review(s) of: Nature via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human, by Matt Ridley, (2003). New York: HarperCollins. 328pp, US

Book Reviews : Despotism and Differential Reproduction: a Darwinian View of History Laura L. Betzig. New York, Aldine, 1986. xi + 171 pp. DM 89

25.95, ISBN 1841157457. Includes endnotes.

The Case of Female Orgasm: Bias in the Science of Evolution Elisabeth A. Lloyd (2005). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 311 pp,

The main data base available for testing generalised statements about cultures is Murdoch’s Ethnographic Atlas, several essays authored by Murdoch with D.R. White, and the Cumulative Cross-Culture Coding Center at the University of Pittsburgh. Betzig selected 104 societies from the Ethnographic Atlas to establish a sample to test the hypothesis. A brief description of each sample item is given. The description comprises the Atlas number of the culture, its language, geographic location, the author(s) of ethnography cited by Betzig, and the date of such work.