MIT Philosophy Chair Criticizes Bell Curve

Twenty-five students and tutors packed into Mather's Small Dining Room last night to hear Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Ned Block clarify the conceptual confusion surrounding the Bell Curve debate.

Block, who is the chair of the philosophy department at MIT, refuted most of the theories propounded by the controversial book, and explained how the concepts underlying Charles Murray and Richard Herrnstein's research were fundamentally flawed.

According to Block, Herrnstein and Murray do not fully explore the ramifications of environment upon intelligence quotients (IQs), and base their discussion instead on oversimplified biology.

Block said that the authors of The Bell Curve "only consider the variables that they know how to measure, but those variables don't seem to be the ones that are crucial in this case."

He attacked the bell curve theory on the basis of its failure to differentiate between genetic determination and heritability, citing the impact of environment on heritability.

He explained that IQ was a heritable trait, but not a completely genetically determined one despite popular misconception.

"In a centipede-like creature which grows legs depending on how much it eats, I doubt very much that we would think of number of toes as genetically determined," Block said.

Block also employed anthropology to justify his criticism of The Bell Curve.

"We know that caste-like minorities [minorities who accept society's view of themselves as inferior] have lower IQs than others," said Block "but when they emigrate to other countries, their IQ goes up to match other inhabitants of that country [who share their ethnicity or national origin but not their old caste-status.]"

Block said that the legacy of slavery and discrimination against Black Americans has reduced them to this caste-like status, which could account for the 15 point difference in white and Black IQs.

Block criticized Murray and Herrnstein's extrapolation of data on white IQs, and said that the dearth of scientific evidence on the inheritability of IQ in Blacks further weakened the book.

For the most part, students responded favorably to Block's presentation.

"He concentrated on issues which haven't been addressed in the literature [surrounding the debate], namely the meaning of 'genetic," said Bruce L. Gottlieb '97, who is a Crimson editor. "He also made an attempt to take account of interaction between genetic and environmental factors which may not be strictly linear."

"I think it's really important that analyticphilosophers address issues in the real world.[Block] takes on a subject of general interest inattacking the issue," said Aaron P. Goldberg '96.

Block was invited by the Cognitive ScienceTable, which is sponsored by Mather and QuincyHouse

"I think it's really important that analyticphilosophers address issues in the real world.[Block] takes on a subject of general interest inattacking the issue," said Aaron P. Goldberg '96.

Block was invited by the Cognitive ScienceTable, which is sponsored by Mather and QuincyHouse