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The Work Of Stephen Jay Gould Stephen Jay Gould, one of the world's finest and best-known evolutionary biologists, died Monday (5/20) at age 60. He was best known for his scholarship on evolution and natural selection. It was his contention that evolution unfolds not at some remote point in time all at once (roughly Darwin's view), but haphazardly, in instantaneous bursts, punctuated by long spells of homeostasis. He also argued that evolution is manifested on many levels, and not, as many casually believe, on the genetic-biochemical level alone. About a half-dozen of his texts are critically acclaimed, including Ever Since Darwin, The Panda's Thumb, The Mismeasure of Man (for which he was honored with a National Book Critics Award), and Full House: The Spread of Excellence From Plato To Darwin. Professor Gould seldom hesitated to venture out of cloistered academic environs to battle various advocates of specious notions. He appeared in the second Scopes trial in Arkansas to fight "creation scientists"; he turned up often before Congressional committees to argue against certain environmental policies; he was quite vocal in his opposition to the untenable "Bell Curve" hypothesis, propounded by conservative social commentator Charles Murray and the late Richard Herrnstein. It is wrong, he said, to assume that intelligence is "some thing in the head" that can be easily quantified (the irresistible temptation of all IQ enthusiasts), and just as wrong to ascribe socio-economic disparities among groups to IQ performance. The reader is encouraged to review the deftness with which he dealt the "Bell Curve" hypothesis a fell blow (Gould, "Curveball," The New Yorker, 11/28/94). Here are some extra links: 1. The Median Isn't The Message (A funny and amusing reflection on the state of his cancer.) 3. Interview With Skeptic Magazine (Michael Shermer). Affirmative words for religion, and agreement with Huxley that "agnosticism is the only honorable position because we really cannot know [if there is even a non-anthropomorphic God.]"
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