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

 References
    book Burleigh M (1994) Death and Deliverance: ‘Euthanasia’ in Germany 1900–1945. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    book Carson R and Rothstein M (1999) Behavioral Genetics: The Clash of Culture and Biology. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
    Galton F (1905) Studies in eugenics. American Journal of Sociology 11(1): 11–25.
    Goodey C (2001) From natural disability to the moral man: Calvinism and the history of psychology. History of the Human Sciences 14(3): 1–29.
    book Hacking I (1990) The Taming of Chance. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    book Kevles D (1985) In the Name of Eugenics. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
    McGuffin P, Riley B and Plomin R (2001) Toward behavioral genomics. Science 291: 1232–1234.
    book Silver L (1999) Remaking Eden: Cloning, Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humankind. London: Phoenix Press.
    book Zihni L (1990) The History of the Relationship between the Concept and Treatment of People with Down's Syndrome in Britain and America from 1866 to 1967. PhD thesis, University College London.
 Further Reading
    book Clarke A and Parsons E (1997) Culture, Kinship and Genes: Towards Cross-Cultural Genetics. London: Macmillan.
    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.
    book Midgley M (1992) Science and Salvation: A Modern Myth and its Meaning. London: Routledge.
    book Nelkin D and Lindee M (1995) The DNA Mystique: The Gene as a Cultural Icon. New York: WH Freeman.
    book Richardson K (1999) The Making of Intelligence. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
    book Rose S, Lewontin R and Kamin L (1984) Not in Our Genes: Biology, Ideology and Human Nature. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin.
    book Tokar B (2001) Redesigning Life? The Worldwide Challenge to Genetic Engineering. London: Zed Books.
    book Wright D and Digby A (1996) From Idiocy to Mental Deficiency: Historical Perspectives on People with Learning Disabilities. London: Routledge.

Related Sub-Topics:

Genetics of Intelligence and Cognition | History | Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

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]