Grant Callaghan:
> The New York Review of books has just published a book review by
> Stephen Jay Gould critiquing Daniel Dennett's "Darwin's Dangerous
> Idea." In it he says Dennett misrepresented his (Gould's) ideas
> in the book and tried to attribute positions to Gould that he
> never espoused. Then he brings up some excellent criticisms of
> the memetics movement that should probably be addressed by anyone
> who wants to make memetics a science or philosophy that scientists
> will take seriously. You can read or download the article from
> www.nybooks.com. Highly recommended.
I took a look at the Gould's essay at www.nybooks.com The only essay I =
could find
is not really a book review of as Grant suggests but defensive article. =
Gould feels
himself under attack from what he calls the "self-styled" =
"fundamentalist" "fervent" "ultra-Darwinian" and "hyper-Darwinian". =
Gould lashes out at several people, John
Maynard Smith, Richard Dawkins, and Daniel Dennett. For the most part =
Gould's=20
cross hairs are aligned on Dennett. The essay contains a large number =
of ad hominem
attacks and I can't say this very professional of him. Even after =
ignoring the attacks
I did not get much out of the essay. I don't particulary want to =
critique the whole
thing, With this kind of argument I think Gould is looking more for a =
fight than
rational discourse.
Of Richard Dawkins' ideas Gould says:
"a hyper-Darwinian idea that I regard as a
logically flawed and basically foolish caricature of
Darwin's genuinely radical intent. "
I could not figure out why he says this is so.
Of Daniel Dennett Gould says:
"Dennett explains the
strict adaptationist view well enough, but he defends a
miserly and blinkered picture of evolution in assuming
that all important phenomena can be explained thereby.
His limited and superficial book reads like a caricature
of a caricature--for if Richard Dawkins has trivialized
Darwin's richness by adhering to the strictest form of
adaptationist argument in a maximally reductionist
mode, then Dennett, as Dawkins's publicist, manages
to convert an already vitiated and improbable account
into an even more simplistic and uncompromising
doctrine. If history, as often noted, replays grandeurs
as farces, and if T.H. Huxley truly acted as "Darwin's
bulldog," then it is hard to resist thinking of Dennett, in
this book, as "Dawkins's lapdog." "
This make one make me smile. In his opining remarks Gould quotes Darwn:
"I am convinced that natural selection has been
the main but not the exclusive means of
modification."=20
Not more than half a page away Gould said:
(In one sense, this
nicety of history should not be relevant to modern
concerns; maybe Darwin was overcautious, and
modern ultras therefore out-Darwin Darwin for good
reason. But since the modern ultras push their line with
an almost theological fervor, and since the views of
founding fathers do matter in religion, though
supposedly not in science, Darwin's own fierce
opposition does become a factor in judgment.)
This irony is delicious.
- Gould evokes Darwin.
- States "founding fathers do matter in religion, though supposedly not =
in science"
- Gould accuses the "ultras" of an almost theological fervor.
-Alan Ferguson
=20
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