Science Wars: Politics, Gender, and Race

211 Pages·2013·1.015 MB·English

by  Anthony Walsh

iii
Copyright © 2013 by Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick,
New Jersey.
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Materials.
Library of Congress Catalog Number: 2012031237
ISBN: 978-1-4128-5163-3
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walsh, Anthony, 1941-
Science wars : politics, gender, and race / Anthony Walsh.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-4128-5163-3
1. Science--Social aspects. I. Title.
Q175.5.W344 2013
303.48’3--dc23
2012031237
To my wife and soul mate, Grace; my children, Robert and
Michael; my stepdaughters, Kasey and Heidi; my grandchildren,
Robbie, Ryan, Mikey, Randy, Christopher, Ashlyn, Morgan, Stevie,
and Vivien; and my great grandchildren, Kaelyn and Logan.

Contents
Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xix
Chapter 1 The Science Wars 1
Platonist or Aristotelian? 1
Temperament and Visions 3
Early Science Wars: A Very Short History 5
The Current Scene 8
Conclusion 13
Chapter 2 Social Constructionism 15
What Is Social Constructionism? 15
Weak versus Strong Social Constructionism 18
Fact Constructionism 20
Sticking Points: Contingency, Nominalism,
and Scientific Stability 22
Conclusion 26
Chapter 3 Science and Knowing 29
Defending Science 29
Rationalism 30
Francis Bacon and Empiricism 32
Bacon and Metaphor 34
Thomas Kuhn and Scientific Relativism
and Revolution 36
Relativism 39
Conclusion 41
Chapter 4 The Conceptual Tools of Science 43
Terms of Opprobrium 43
Determinism and Freedom 44
“Biological Determinism” 46
Essentialism 47
Reductionism 50
Conclusion 54
Chapter 5 Human Nature 57
I s There a Human Nature,
and How Do We Know? 57
Natural Selection and Human Nature 61
Sexual Selection and Male-Female Natures 63
S election for Biparental Care
and Its Consequences 65
Conclusion 68
Chapter 6 Social Constructionism and Gender 71
Gender Construction 71
Gender Socialization and Gender Differences 73
The Influence of Margaret Mead 76
Ecological Explanations 78
Melford Spiro: The Reluctant Apostate 80
Conclusion 81
Chapter 7 The Neurohormonal Basis of Gender 83
Sexing the Brain 83
Disorders of Sex Development:
What Can They Tell Us about Gender? 85
Transsexuals 90
Other Gender-Confounding Conditions 91
Conclusion 92
Chapter 8 A Further Journey into the Gendered Brain 95
Sex on the Brain 95
Softwiring the Brain 96
Brain Laterality 97
Arousal Levels 99
Dolls, Trucks, Evolution, and the Visual System 100
Sugar and Spice; Snips and Snails 102