… the author is adamant that racial differences in intelligence are a result of the evolutionary process and natural selection and there is very little we can do to reverse the situation or equalize human conditions. Vanhanen has got his argument backwards. It makes far more sense to argue that the populations of rich countries do better on IQ tests because they have access to better nutrition and education; Vanhanen and his co-author Richard Lynn use scientific jargon, and techniques to support claims of natural superiority of one identifiable human population or group to another.
The message is essentialist, nativist, and deterministic. It denies the conventional view and scientifically proven fact that group differences in intelligence are primarily or exclusively determined by different cultural circumstances, schooling, knowledge, and socioeconomic factors and therefore could be eliminated by improvements in behavioural standards, access to cultural capital, socioeconomic status, home environment, and so on. The e-mail message and the contents of Richard Lynn‘s book are in line with many of the luminaries (e.g., Kant, Hume, and Hegel) of Western philosophy who at one time or another have written about race as if those human groups that distinguished themselves both geographically and phenotypically constituted natural ―types‖ in terms of temperament and intellect.
Lynn and Vanhanen (2002) argue that the relation between intelligence and economic well-being is causal; that intelligence causes well-being, and that, beyond improving nutrition, very little can be done about it (Hurt & Wittman, 2008). In fact, the authors go so far as to claim:
The populations of the rich countries may have to accept that they have an ethical obligation to provide financial assistance to the peoples of the poor countries for the indefinite future, just as within countries the rich accept that they have an ethical obligation to pay taxes to support the poor. (Lynn & Vanhanen, 2002, p. 196
Citation: Berhanu, Girma. (2011 November 19) Academic racism: Lynn‘s and Kanazawa‘s ill-considered theory of racial differences in intelligence. Education Review, 14(12). Retrieved [Date] from http://www.edrev.info/essays/v14n12.pdf
This is very interesting theory, I have heard a lot of positive reviews on this from professionals of this sphere so it was very curious to read this blog post of yours, never thought it would be this fascinating!
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