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Steven Pinker Says Historians "Historicize Everything" and Hate Science

10/16/2019

34 Comments

 
For a few minutes, I thought I would write a lengthy analysis of Steven Pinker’s recent Twitter rant in which the Harvard psychologist and popular writer alleges that historians of science are biased against science and are actively working to destroy science’s claim to objectivity by forcing people to read about the history of science rather than its conclusions.

Unlike past anti-scientism rants in lit/cult/pol mags, this is in Nature. Why? Sci eds often outsource commentary on sci & soc to the clique of historians of sci, who historicize everything & hate sci's claim to objectivity & realism. https://t.co/1DYq8kuG4R @Evolutionistrue

— Steven Pinker (@sapinker) October 10, 2019
Pinker’s tweet created a storm of controversy, with his defenders, like the editor of Quillette, going so far as to claim that historians as a group are biased and refuse to use “objective” data, insisting instead on telling “stories” that are, of course, full of opinions. Pinker’s opponents made better points, notably one I read that asked why exactly these people are afraid of the history of science. The answer, they argued, is that they don’t want to grapple with the fact that the history of science if intimately tied to the history of culture, and that “objective” scientific “truths” like scientific racism and eugenics jostled against chemistry and physics, giving the lie to the idea that a liberal and tolerant world order was ushered in through science in the 1780s and only got better from there.
 
The whole argument angered me a bit because I am in the process of finishing up work on my Mound Builder book, which, at its heart, is a history of the early years of American archaeology. I guess that makes me a de facto historian of science, and, yes, I historicized the subject by placing the developments into the context of the religious, political, and, yes, racist culture of the 1800s. I don’t much like the idea that Pinker thinks that my book is an effort to deny science “claim to objectivity and realism,” but, I guess, at one level it is. The “science” of the 1800s was wrong. Its practitioners thought it was objective, but it was racist. That’s not an opinion, however. The scientists of the time proudly announced that they were racists. Even the good guys who had the right idea weren’t 100% correct. Cyrus Thomas, who busted the Mound Builder myth in 1894 and is a scientific hero for doing so, actually thought the mounds were mostly the work of ancestral Cherokees. That isn’t right. Exposing the fact that early iterations of scientific ideas were wrong is not an attack on the scientific method but an important corrective in understanding that theories are established gradually, through testing and refinement, moving from initial ideas to more refined ones. Each new version became a little more accurate until, today, we are presumably quite close to the truth.
 
Of course, Pinker probably doesn’t think of archaeology as a real science.
 
Anyway, I need to finish indexing the book today. Mine is probably going to be one of the only books on American mounds to feature phrenology, Nazis, UFOs, penis worship, and Nephilim in the index.
34 Comments
Racist
10/16/2019 11:20:16 am

Black men run faster.

Reply
Yasha
10/16/2019 05:08:39 pm

Practice. It's safer to run from racist white cops than it is to trust they'll do their jobs properly. If black men were the socially dominant group, white men would probably be running faster, too.

Reply
Kent
10/17/2019 05:13:58 pm

Like Zimbabwe and South Africa! That makes perfect sense!

Jim Davis
10/16/2019 11:33:17 am

"Its practitioners thought it was objective, but it was racist."

Are these mutually exclusive? For example, one might reject the claims of afrocentrists and be labelled a racist, but it doesn't follow that one can't be objective and reject afrocentrism.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
10/16/2019 01:52:35 pm

No, they aren't mutually exclusive. However, they though they were themselves being objective when they were acting out of racism.

Reply
Yasha
10/16/2019 05:08:04 pm

Objective: not influenced by personal beliefs and opinions in considering and representing facts
Racist: a belief in the inherent superiority of a given race

It doesn't matter what you are labeled for rejecting afrocentrist claims. It matters WHY you did. If you rejected them because of racism, then you are being racist, not objective. If you rejected them because the claim was wrong, it's objective, not racist. And some of the claims made by afrocentrists have, in fact, been quite provably wrong. Others have not, and been provably correct.

So yes, I personally would say that they are mutually exclusive--but also that the scenario you described isn't necessarily describing racism on the part of the person doing the rejecting. "You haven't proven that," "your methodology is flawed," and "your own data does not support your conclusion" are all valid, objective reasons to reject some of the claims that have been made by afrocentrists. The fact that some afrocentrists will label you as racist regardless is irrelevant.

Reply
Kent
10/16/2019 06:18:00 pm

What if a racist knows that an afrocentric claim is provably wrong?

I'd like to hear about some of these "provably correct" afrocentric claims. Might learn something.

An Anonymous Nerd
10/16/2019 08:07:50 pm

[I'd like to hear about some of these "provably correct" afrocentric claims. Might learn something.]

I'll bite.

The presence of cultures, empires, kingdoms, etc., and the like, in Africa before colonization seems to be considered by some to be an "Afrocentric" claim. And that's demonstrably accurate and verifiable. (That those cultures came to America is demonstrably wrong, but that they existed is demonstrably right.)

For more I recommend the "Lost Kingdoms of Africa" documentary series (BBC). Sadly I've never saved any book references I've found about those cultures.

-An Anonymous Nerd

Jack the Beanstalk
10/16/2019 12:27:02 pm

Your book is going to include something about Penis worship. That means Scott Wolter, Nick Redfern and Joe Scales will be the first three in line to purchase it.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
10/16/2019 01:50:59 pm

Ephraim Squier wrote a book about phallic worship after he wrote his mound book, and the occultists writing about Ophiolatreia included both Ohio's Serpent Mound and phallic worship in their discussions of serpent-worship.

Reply
T. Franke link
10/16/2019 02:04:27 pm

Well, aren't both sides wrong? You cannot undermine science by realizing that it is always aligned with the zeitgeist. Because science does not promise absolute truth. -- On the other hand, as a scientist, you cannot make the claim, that science produces objectivity and pure facts. It only tries. Better and better.

Both sides seem to have a wrong concept of science. The same wrong concept, astonishingly.

Reply
Yasha
10/16/2019 05:21:00 pm

I think it's also important to note that SCIENCE, being a particular methodology, does not contain a moral or ethical component in and of itself. Eugenics is actually a great example of that. SCIENTIFICALLY, the core premise of eugenics is not only sound but supported by evidence--it's identical to breeding traits into plants and animals. It's the moral and ethical questions that make eugenics so horrifyingly awful. Science is not set up to ask the questions "should we," and that's how we've had some of the most horrific things in scientific history happen--like eugenics, like the Tuskegee experiment, like enough other things to have had an entire show based around it ("Dark Matters: Twisted But True").

Reply
Grady from “Sanford and son”
10/17/2019 12:00:37 pm

Your statement is meaningless. The core premise of eugenics is that a human population can be “improved” through certain means and methods. The word “eugenics” automatically includes a subjective component of what is meant by “improved” or “better.” If your point is that biological populations can be manipulated in various ways through selective breeding, forced sterilization, etc . . ., then it’s something a kindergartener knows.

Elizabeth from Heaven
10/17/2019 04:08:14 pm

Good job repeating what the previous poster said, Romper Room.

Lamont’s friend rollo
10/17/2019 04:54:05 pm

The previous poster acknowledged that his statement was meaningless? Are you illiterate?

Elizabeth From Heaven
10/17/2019 05:18:09 pm

Do you not understand the concept of an intro or a lead-in? If that quibble is the best you have maybe we should delay your enrollment until next year.

Julio’s goat
10/17/2019 05:43:06 pm

I understand the concept that you initially claimed that I repeated the previous poster’s comment and now you are admitting that I did not repeat the previous poster’s comment. Is there anything else?

Elizabeth From Heaven
10/17/2019 06:19:52 pm

Do you understand that I didn't say "Good job of *only* repeating what the previous poster said, Romper Room"?

This is your best?

Smitty and Hoppy
10/17/2019 06:48:52 pm

I accept your apology. No need to feel humiliated, I’m here to help!

Elizabeth From Heaven
10/17/2019 07:07:39 pm

Good to know that "winning" is that easy! In that spirit,

I accept your apology. No need to feel humiliated, I’m here to help!

Bob
10/17/2019 08:31:58 pm

Do not meddle in the affairs of ethics. It makes them soggy, and hard to light.

Uncle Woodrow
10/17/2019 08:48:55 pm

Well then, let me be more specific with only you (as opposed to all the other people whom I might be addressing). I made my previous comment (and only that comment — not other comments that I could possibly mean) so as to give only you an avenue for a safe retreat — only one retreat mind you. Because I know that only you (the one and only you) are too insecure to admit when you (you and only you) are wrong, I (and only me) recognized that your (and only your) insistence that the word “only” be used unnecessarily was a pathetic attempt to create nonexistent ambiguity. Therefore I (and only me) graciously accepted your obvious one and only apology so as not to further and only humiliate only you.

But now that you’ve apologized again, we can dispense with the use of “only”! I accept your second apology.

Elizabeth From Heaven
10/17/2019 09:25:06 pm

You remind me of the guy who stalks Joe Scales, but...

I accept your apology. No need to feel humiliated, I’m here to help!

A C
10/20/2019 07:11:42 am

Eugenics isn't scientifically sound for the very reason that its based around a Victorian misunderstanding of selective breeding. Victorian dog breeds are not 'superior', they're inbred and suffer from terrible health problems and their talents are a matter of specialization not general superiority. Eugenics assumes that a healthier population will be made up of generally superior individuals and that's completely debunked by any cursory look into dog breeding.

Victorian plant breeding has led to mono-cultures that are incredibly vulnerable to disease. Discoveries like the relation between sickle-cell anemia and malaria resistance completely debunks the idea that the health of a population can be improved by stopping hereditary diseases through murder or sterilization.

The concept of 'population health' isn't completely crazy in a modern understanding of genetics but it doesn't make old eugenicist goals look sensible. Eugenics wasn't even universally immoral, the 11+ examination system and planned parenthood have led to some social good while MENSA is more or less harmless.

Kent
10/21/2019 07:12:15 am

"Eugenics wasn't even universally immoral, the 11+ examination system and planned parenthood have led to some social good"

I don't care about some limey SAT but Planned Parenthood has led to fewer black people. Is that what you consider a social good? That sounz raciss. Why do you want a society without Nubian princes? Are you ascared that your rightful superiors will throw you out?

Jr. Time Lord
10/18/2019 03:43:11 am

"Historicize" sounds like it would be a phrase used by the late Doctor of Style, Slick. A wrestling manager who would use phrases like "exactically, Homeboy". He would enter the ring to a song called, "Jive Soul Bro".

Speaking as a Psychologist... I'm glad I never went to Harvard. Their psych department has produced some doozies.

Reply
Kent
10/18/2019 08:55:36 pm

Majoring in psychology doesn't make you a Psychologist, Walter Mitty.

Reply
Doc Rock
10/20/2019 09:45:42 am

I guess that he never recovered from having to read Kuhn in grad school.

Reply
William Fitzgerald
10/20/2019 09:07:12 pm

It seems your book is not so much a history of science or American archeology per se, but a history of racism within the context of archeology.

But, I haven't read it and probably won't as my understanding of what it's about is of little interest to me.

Reply
Kent
10/20/2019 10:52:16 pm

You have broken the red zone peg on the "I'm Not Interested" Meter.

Dude, NO ONE CARES about you saying "I plan not to read Book X."

Get over yourself.

Reply
William Fitzgerald
10/20/2019 11:29:38 pm

Thanks for being interested enough in my comment to respond...

But, if Jason wants to sell books, I am sure he is willing to take some feedback.

Kent
10/21/2019 02:44:38 am

You have broken the red zone peg on the "I'm Not Interested" Meter.

Dude, NO ONE CARES about you saying "I plan not to read Book X."

Get over yourself.

luna1580
10/21/2019 08:21:32 pm

jason i can't wait to read your new book.

i have a bad habit of leaving channels like "science" "travel" and even "history" on as background noise when i'm doing computer work (although i'm trying to shift more into PBS, the smithsonian channel, netflix and prime video.)

and every time i catch someone gushing about "giants" and "the ancients did not know" or hear the phrase "is it POSSIBLE?" i cringe and think "is it POSSIBLE you don't understand why this is racist? or at least indicative or your deep-seated belief that certain cultures are always inherently superior?"

i'd really like to read your thoughts and research, ESPECIALLY of how this has played out in a specific historical cultural context. humans do not form their ideas without the influence of their culture, but there is no good reason to spend an entire life doing so blindly.

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Homer Sextown
10/22/2019 04:26:16 am

If changing channels requires effort you're not really trying. You sound like you belong to an inferior race.

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