The Bell Curve and Nature vs. Nurture
There is a new book out stirring up the old Nature vs. Nurture controversy called "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature" by Steven Pinker. The book supports that idea that there is a genetic basis for behavior and intelligence, an idea opposed by adherents to the "Blank Slate" philosophy in which a newborn mind is a blank slate and intelligence and behavior are primarily determined by environment. The "Blank Slate" argument is propounded by (among others) Richard Lewontin in books like "Biology As Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA", which seeks to find accord between biology and liberal politics by denying "genetic determinism", "behavioral genetics", and "reductionist science". Lewontin's book in turn was a response to books by Richard Dawkins and Edward O. Wilson. As the debate raged over the years, enough straw-man arguments have been angrily burnt in effigy to rival the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.
What the Lewontin camp seems to fear most is that acceptance of a genetic basis for IQ and behavior will lead to the acceptance of ideologies like those expressed by "The Bell Curve", by Herrnstein and Murray. As I understand it, the thesis of the Bell-Curve is this: If one's abilities are largely determined by genetic endowment, then expensive social programs which try and elevate those that fall on the lower reaches of the "bell curve" are doomed to failure.(1) The "Blank Slate-ists" try to refute the Bell-Curve argument by attacking the science that supports the relationship between genetics and a person's abilities.
Steven Pinker's book offers the idea that scientific theories about the heritability of behavior and intelligence are not a threat to ideals of political equality. This gets to the heart of what I see as wrong with the whole nature vs. nurture debate, and what is equally wrong with the Lewontin brew of leftist biology and the Bell-Curve's scientific rationalizations.
What I object to is the politicization of science. One side claims, "My right-wing political beliefs are supported by science" and the other retorts that, "Your science must be wrong, because it conflicts with my leftist ideology."(2) Both parties are egregiously guilty of confusing science with politics and vice-versa. What both side fail to realize is that societal and political questions are best addressed using ethics, and that science should be at most a bit player in this process.
According to the scientific method, all science is provisional. Any theory may need to be amended, or thrown out entirely, at any time, with the discovery of a counter-example. So, a scientific theory is a poor choice for a foundation on which to rest an ethical argument. If you believe you are correct because you are supported by "science", you can never be completely certain and are forever in danger of being overturned. It is fine to be informed by science when making ethical decisions, but using science to reason about ethics is like using mathematics to reason about poetry. You may have an extremely powerful tool, but its not the right tool for the job.
The Lewontin camp claims that the Bell-Curve idea is wrong because their science is bad. This is an incredibly weak argument. A much stronger argument is that the Bell-Curve idea is wrong, regardless of their science, because their ethics are bad.
Individualism is a core principle of Judeo-Christian ethics. If I commit a crime, does my whole family go to jail? Of course not. I am responsible, so I go to jail. If I perform a demanding job, does the company make out a check to "pay to the order of White People"? They better not. If I have lived a wicked and dissolute life, does God send everyone from my neighborhood to hell? No, just me. We judge individuals by their own merit, not the merit of others.
So, is it ethical to send a kid to an inferior school because his family, race, or neighbors have not been "high achievers" (whatever that may be)? Is it acceptable to reason that the kid in this case probably would not benefit from a higher quality school, so let's not waste valuable resources on him? This clearly would violate the principle of individualism. There are innumerable examples of those who have risen from humble backgrounds to great achievements, and also of those from illustrious backgrounds with little to show for it. This is why it is better to judge an individual on his or her own merit, and this principle is all that is necessary to fully refute the Bell-Curve argument, without any reference to the unfinished scientific endeavor to understand the human mind.
The nature vs. nurture debate may rage on, but to me the answer -- as plain as day -- is "both". As in, both nature and environment determine one's abilities as an adult (however you choose to define "abilities"). The duality here is entirely false. Furthermore, as to the mechanisms by which genes manifest themselves in behavior or intelligence (or even a solid understanding of what intelligence is), the science is very incomplete and seems likely to remain so for decades. So any attempt to base social policy on this science is, at best, premature. Even in the event of a comprehensive theory of the mind, is there any doubt that social problems will remain as difficult as ever? We should let science, free of ideological burdens, address the questions of how things work. What to do about it will remain the province of ethics, wisdom, and judgement.
Notes:
1 I should take care not to imply that Steven Pinker's books support right-wing political ideas. It seems to me, they do not.
2 Probably, all parties to which I have referred would object to my characterization of their arguments. It is difficult to summarize a complex argument in a sentence without distortion.