science

19755 readers

481 users here now

A community to post scientific articles, news, and civil discussion.

rule #1: be kind

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

m3t00@lemmy.world

Joleee@lemmy.world

laverabe@lemmy.world

DeadPand@midwest.social

laverabe@lemmy.zip

148

Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 3 weeks ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/science@lemmy.world

35 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Psychologist and writer’s appearance on Aporia condemned for helping to normalise ‘dangerous, discredited ideas’

The Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Steven Pinker appeared on the podcast of Aporia, an outlet whose owners advocate for a revival of race science and have spoken of seeking “legitimation by association” by platforming more mainstream figures.

The appearance underlines past incidents in which Pinker has encountered criticism for his association with advocates of so-called “human biodiversity”, which other academics have called a “rebranding” of racial genetic essentialism and scientific racism.

Pinker’s appearance marks another milestone in the efforts of many in Silicon Valley and rightwing media and at the fringes of science to rehabilitate previously discredited models of a biologically determined racial hierarchy.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Libra@lemmy.ml 19 points 3 weeks ago (12 children)

Hm, I generally had a decently positive opinion of Pinker. Is this a case of him not knowing what this was and getting ambushed? Or did he know what was up going in?

[–] athairmor@lemmy.world -3 points 3 weeks ago (11 children)

This is who he is. Check out evolutionary psychology. He’s a proponent of this theory that has strong tendency towards racial biases.

[–] Libra@lemmy.ml 30 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (5 children)

Er, evolutionary psychology is a whole field of study with its own journal with hundreds of published studies. If you're going to claim that a whole branch of psychology is racist you're going to need to provide some evidence to back those claims up, because that wikipedia article has nothing more damning in it than the following suggestion that there are critics who think there might be some ethical problems with how it's sometimes used, but that's not a condemnation of the value of the science itself.

Critics have argued that evolutionary psychology might be used to justify existing social hierarchies and reactionary policies. It has also been suggested by critics that evolutionary psychologists' theories and interpretations of empirical data rely heavily on ideological assumptions about race and gender.

But that's like saying a wrench is a weapon because it can be thrown at someone's head; that's problem with the user, not a problem inherent in the tool.

[–] jwiggler@sh.itjust.works 8 points 3 weeks ago

You articulated my thoughts better than I did. Such a bizarre way to criticize Steven Pinker. Like criticizing Tom Cruise for being a part of a native plant gardening club.

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments (9 replies)