To: nihil who wrote (45351 ) 7/13/1999 1:09:00 PM From: jbe Read Replies (1) | Respond to
nihil, in real life the process you describe fits only hard science. It most emphatically does NOT fit the Humanities, and the soft sciences only to a limited degree. I realize I have not qualified that statement with my usual "maybes" or "IMOs," but I am nevertheless prepared to defend it (when I have time). The Bell Curve :A serious scientific book should be the culmination of a program of research that has been subjected to external scientific scrutiny, revised appropriately in the light of that scrutiny, and iteratively honed into a well-reasoned and credible final form. In this paradigm, research that purports to be scientific would first be reviewed on its scientific merits. Only if that review is passed successfully would society at large be concerned with the research.The Bell Curve was sprung full blown without external scientific scrutiny, but with beautifully orchestrated initial publicity. A vast stream of reactions in the general media followed immediately (e.g.,New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1994; Newsweek, October 24, 1994; Time, October 24, 1994; The New Republic, October 31, 1994).The Bell Curve is now an exercise in damage control rather than prevention. ssc.wisc.edu
