Making sense of heritability / Neven Sesardic.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sesardić, Neven, 1949-

Series:

Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nature and nurture.

Behavior genetics.

Genetic psychology.

Environmental psychology.

Physical Description:

xii, 267 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2005.

Summary:

In this book, Neven Sesardic defends the view that it is both possible and useful to measure the separate contributions of heredity and environment to the explanation of human psychological differences. He critically examines the view - very widely accepted by scientists, social scientists, and philosophers of science - that heritability estimates have no causal implications and are devoid of any interest. In a series of clearly written chapters he introduces the reader to the problems, and subjects the arguments to close philosophical scrutiny. His conclusion is that anti-heritability arguments are based on conceptual confusions and misunderstandings of behavioral genetics. His book is a fresh, original and compelling intervention in a very contentious debate.

Contents:

The nature-nurture debate : a premature burial?

A convenient jingle of words

No fair hearing for Francis Galton

Heritability 101

Can monomorphic traits be heritable?

Philosophers at work : caveat lector!

A tangle of interactions : separating genetic and environmental influences

Two concepts of interaction

The rectangle analogy

Lewontin against ANOVA

Non-additivity

Locality

Causal irrelevance

The second look at interactions

Lost in correlations? : direct and indirect genetic causes

The conceptual route : a Pickwickian notion?

The methodological route : tracing the paths of causality

The sociologist's fallacy

From individuals to groups : genetics and race

The "master argument"

VE theories

X-factor theories

Unfair to facts

The hereditarian strikes back

Genes and malleability

Genetic and environmental causation

PKU

Local modifiabiliy and modifiability "in principle"

Comparing apples and oranges

A clumsy attempt to appease the critics

Limits to egalitarianism

Science and sensitivity

Mistaken because politically motivated

Politically motivated because mistaken

Consequential fallacy

Double standards

From "is" to "ought," non-fallaciously

Looking into the abyss

From groups to individuals

Fair, therefore biased?

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-257) and index.

ISBN:

052182818X

OCLC:

57669800

Publisher Number:

9780521828185