"Heterogeneity and heritability": local and global participants sought
for ISH session on Tuesday July 14


Heterogeneity and heritability: Responses from sociology, philosophy, and history of biology

International Society for History, Philosophy & Social Studies of Biology, Brisbane, 2009.
Session on Tuesday July 14,
warming up at 8.45pm for a 9pm start (Australian EST =10.45am GMT = 6.45am US EST)
timed to allow for input from afar by internet-mediated conference call.*

There is long and politically charged history of scientific and policy
debates about the heritability of IQ test scores and genetic
explanations of the differences between the mean scores for racial
groups. In a series of papers, Peter Taylor argues that, despite the
attention given to these debates by researchers and other critical
commentators, including science studies scholars, significant conceptual
and methodological issues in quantitative and behavioral genetics have
been overlooked or not well appreciated. In particular, when similar
responses of different genetically defined types are observed, it should
not be assumed that similar conjunctions of genetic or environmental
factors have been involved in producing those responses. Allowing for
the possibility of heterogeneity of factors opens up many issues for the
different fields in science studies.

*This call can be joined by phone or skype.  For more intellectual and
technical details, see http://sicw.wikispaces.com/ISHPSSB09

Please RSVP to help in planning.

Back to ISHPSSB Listserv on the Web