Intelligence, Heredity, and Genes: A Historical Perspective

CF Goodey, The Open University, London, UK

Published online: September 2006

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0006182

The idea of an intelligence specific to humans has not always existed but grew from pre-modern ideas about their cultural and religious status. Galton's attachment of the term ‘intelligence’ to an existing statistical abstraction (the Gaussian curve) enabled this metaphysical concept to be correlated with the physical phenomenon of genetic material, since both were now apparently measureable. Like intelligence, the ‘nature/nature’ and ‘normal/abnormal’ frameworks dominating cognitive genetics are not trans-historical but outcomes of the eugenic mind-set, dependent on it for their validity.

Keywords: intelligence; learning disability; heredity; eugenics; history

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    Goodey C and Stainton T (2001) Intellectual disability and the myth of the changeling myth. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 37(3): 223–240.
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Related Sub-Topics:

Philosophy of the Life Sciences | Genetics of Intelligence and Cognition | History
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Article Title: Intelligence, Heredity, and Genes: A Historical Perspective
 
How to Cite close
Goodey, CF(Sep 2006) Intelligence, Heredity, and Genes: A Historical Perspective. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0006182]