Hereditary Genius An Inquiry Into Its Laws And Consequences
Product Description
In the 1860s Francis Galton set out to examine the extent to which genius is hereditary. This research led in 1869 to the publication of Hereditary Genius, the aim of which was “”to show” that a man’s natural abilities are derived by inheritance, under exactly the same limitations as are the form and physical features of the whole organic world.”
In pursuing this analysis, Galton’s first problem was to develop a method for assessing high levels of mental ability. The approach that he took was to assume that mental ability is closely correlated with eminence (reputation) in a given profession. As he described it, “I feel convinced that no man can achieve a very high reputation without being gifted with very high abilities; and “few who possess these very high abilities can fail in achieving eminence.”
Galton then attempted to marshal evidence in favor of the proposition that mental ability is inherited. First he examined the shape of the distribution of mental ability. Analyzing the scores of 200 candidates who had taken the Mathematical Tripos at Cambridge as well as those that had been obtained by 72 candidates for civil service positions, Galton showed that these scores (and hence presumably the psychological characteristics underlying the scores) were distributed in much the same way as inheritable physical traits, that is to say, normally.
While this similarity in the shape of the distribution of mental and physical characteristics did not in itself imply the inheritability of mental traits, it was consistent with Galton’s claim. More importantly, it also allowed him to estimate the percentages of men that would be expected at each of a series of “levels” of mental ability ranging from the highest to the lowest. This, in turn, provided a standard against which the hypothesis of inheritability of mental ability could be evaluated.
Hereditary Genius An Inquiry Into Its Laws And Consequences
Anonymous said,
Wrote on June 1, 2010 @ 5:43 am
The first quantitative analysis of human mental ability. Galton introduced the notion that mental ability was normally distributed in much the same ways as are physical traits. His strong nativistic perspective served as the point of origin for the nature/nurture debate in its modern form.
Rating: 5 / 5
Dalton C. Rocha said,
Wrote on June 1, 2010 @ 7:35 am
I live in Brazil.I’ll be sincere.I tried to read this trash-book, on an internet site.This book is so weak, that I didn’t finished it.I read a review published at a catholic newspaper, The Catholic World , in 1870.About this trash-book, cathoilc world newspaper was right and this, in 1870!
Well this book has dozens of failures.To example, human inteligence is the subject of this book, but this book never shows, really what is human inteligence.
The author himself never had a son.He didn’t had descendency, something normal among eugenicists, such as he.Eugenicists were the ecologists of XIX Century.A brazilian told more than forty years ago:”I respect the idiots, because they are eternal.”
Rating: 1 / 5