Word: lewontin
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Richard C. Lewontin, professor of biology and one of the scientists scheduled to speak today at 2 p.m., said yesterday that the important question is whether such research will create "potentially very infectious and dangerous organisms...
...most serious matter of all. The comments by Beckwith and by Furshpan in the Crimson represent legitimate disagreements, though it is not clear whether these comments are based on my article or on secondary sources. Lewontin's comments, however, are another matter. He is quoted as saying "[Davis] thinks blacks are mentally inferior and incompetent...[He] argues that these minority students don't have the intrinsic ability to become doctors." Nothing in my article justifies this grave charge. Neither does anything else that I have said or published. I have written to Professor Lewontin demanding an immediate and full retraction...
...committee found unacceptable the grading policies of the instructors, Stephen J. Gould, professor of Geology, and Richard C. Lewontin '50, Agassiz Professor of Zoology, who promise students who write ten-page papers at least...
Gould said last night he is aware of the petition's existence, but that he and Lewontin have had nothing to do with the student group's decision to circulate...
Biological determinism has become a political as well as a scientific issue, and Gould and Lewontin have always presented a radical perspective on it. Until scientific evidence proves otherwise, they say, human behavior can only be attributed to the environment; so far, it is impossible to tell how much genetic inheritance contributes to traits like intelligence. This view of man as essentially plastic conflicts with that of more conservative scientists, who believe genetic damage probably plays a large part in determining behavior...