Wed, 19 Oct 1994 15:09:15 -0700 for <socgrad@ucsd.edu>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 17:09:06 -0500 (CDT)
From: nick mcree <mcree@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu>
Subject: inherited intelligence/Murray's thesis
To: socgrad <socgrad@UCSD.EDU>

Tom Brown asked if anyone "buys" the argument that intelligence is 
inherited.  Well, I think so, at least to the extent that different 
species display differing sets of problem-solving skills.  

*******

While Charles Murray's thesis in _The Learning Curve_ is certainly
controversial and thought-provoking, it is also essentially misguided.  He
fails to see that while the human brain is in some respects "hardwired"
before birth, it is hardly a fully-developed organ at conception.  Most
development of the human brain takes place after birth, and it's
development is directly related to specific types of environmental
stimuli.

Human infants are essentially helpless at birth.  Not so with most other
species, many of which bear offspring that are self-sufficient at birth. 
The ironic factor is that the helplessness of the human infant is in fact
a product of natural selection.  Human brains are not fully developed
precisely because of the importance of environmental forces in shaping 
the survival (social) skills of infants.  In this respect an examination 
of those environmental factors which influence brain development are 
crucial to understand why there are differences in behavior.

I do, however, wince at my discipline, which actively resists (or at 
least fails to meaningfully consider) the role of biology as one of many 
determinants of behavior.

Nick McRee
UT-Austin