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The Daily Dish - 2006-2011 archives for The Daily Dish, featuring Andrew Sullivan

The IQ Debate: Pro And Con

By The Daily Dish
Feb 21 2009, 3:22 AM ET

Steven Rose argues against scientists studying the connection between race and IQ:

In a society in which racism and sexism were absent, the questions of whether whites or men are more or less intelligent than blacks or women would not merely be meaningless they would not even be asked. The problem is not that knowledge of such group intelligence differences is too dangerous, but rather that there is no valid knowledge to be found in this area at all. It's just ideology masquerading as science.

Stephen Ceci and Wendy Williams counter:

There is an emerging consensus about racial and gender equality in genetic determinants of intelligence; most researchers, including ourselves, agree that genes do not explain between-group differences. But some issues remain unresolved, such as identification of mechanisms that bring genetic potential to fruition. Censuring debaters favouring genetic explanations of intelligence differences is not the answer to solving such mysteries.



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