- Gould defines biological determinism as, “The claim that worth can be assigned to individuals and groups measuring intelligence as a single quantity” In sum, your biology creates a caste of sorts.
- They used craniometry and psychological testing as the two major tools for the support of biological determinism.
- They have invoked that science is objective and free of bias; We have the information to support it, thus, it must be true.
- Biological Determinism is only useful for groups in power because they are the ones who control the data
- For the adherents, biological determinism in societies that use caste as an extension of nature pose both a psychological strain for individuals and pose enormous costs for societies economically.
- Gould begins by attacking reification and ranking
- This book is simply about the mismeasure of man and the fallacies of quantification scientifically to assess worthiness.
- Influential and that scientists believed they were pursuing unsullied truth.
- He says it is a Theory of Limits meaning that it uses their current status to measure or limit them to where they should be
- They were all aesthetically based and because slave owners had been raping their slaves, there were many white passing African Americans. Instances were created as such where people were as little as 1/8 African American and subjected to the same laws that they were.
- He wanted the laws that existed surrounding segregation to be deemed unconstitutional at a federal level.
- Plessy was chosen as a test case for the very reason stated in question one. He was white passing and it was not until he was spotted out by locals that he was subjected to be removed from the train.
- State laws were different than federal law so because the original train was interstate, a higher court needed to hear the case, but since his was rode within the state, it was up to their discretion to adjudicate accordingly.
- Social rights and Political Rights can be interrelated because they are man made and surround social constructs that emulate that time whereas civil rights are rights to accessing those rights and surround equality
- They decide that some rights are so important that they deserve to be protected legally.
- They claimed that this was the Unions way of getting the Confederate to conform and bend to their will and force their political agenda.
- White butchers who felt they were wronged by legislation stating where their slaughter houses could be.
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