The mismeasure of man

TLDR

The Mismeasure of Man was hailed as a masterwork in 1981 for challenging biological determinism, yet the notion of innate limits persists, as illustrated by the controversy surrounding The Bell Curve, which Gould anticipates and refutes. This edition aims to explain why Gould wrote the book and to trace the controversy over innateness through the history of The Bell Curve. Gould achieves this by adding a substantial new introduction and five essays addressing The Bell Curve, race, racism, and biological determinism. These additions reinforce the book’s claim to be a major contribution toward debunking pseudo‑biological explanations of contemporary social problems.

Abstract

When published in 1981, The Mismeasure of Man was immediately hailed as masterwork, the ringing answer to those who would classify people, rank them according to their supposed genetic gifts and limits. And yet the idea of innate limits-of biology as destiny-dies hard, as witness the attention devoted to The Bell Curve, whose arguments are here so effectively anticipated and thoroughly undermined by Stephen Jay Gould. In this edition Dr. Gould has written substantial new introduction telling how and why he wrote the book and tracing the subsequent history of the controversy on innateness right through The Bell Curve. Further, he has added five essays on questions of The Bell Curve in particular and on race, racism, and biological determinism in general. These additions strengthen the book's claim to be, as Leo J. Kamin of Princeton University has said, a major contribution toward deflating pseudo-biological 'explanations' of our present social woes.