28-02-2013, 08:02 AM
Magda Hassan Wrote:Max Blair Wrote:What is your opinion of the AWF Edwards 2003 Challenge to Lewontin, that gives us the adage "Lewontin's Fallacy?" My friend thinks Edwards thoroughly discredits Lewontin.Plenty of people have rejected Edwards position re Lewontin as well. I will also note that Edwards is a pupil of Ronald Fisher, a well known eugenicist and racist. He was also a scientist who sold himself to thet tobacco corporations to produce studies saying tobacco did not cause cancer.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12879450
I'm sure she would argue guilt by association. Myself, not so much. Credibility matters. Academic pedigree does factor into overall credibility. It's not a huge thing in and of itself, but it is a thing. It would be useful to know what Edwards thinks of Fisher these days. Also of course, Fisher does still have his defenders, including science rockstar Richard Dawkins.
Still, eugenics. Yeesh.