評論
打印
Science and Truth
科學與真理
Edward Edelson
愛德華·埃德爾森
"Finagle" is not a word that most people associate with science. One reason why science is sorespected these days is that the image of the scientist is of one who collects data in an impartial search for truth. In any debate - over intelligence, schooling, bias, energy - the phrase "science says" usually crushes the opposition.
大多數人不會將“欺詐”一詞與科學聯系在一起。如今科學備受尊重，原因之一在于，人們心目中科學家的形象是一個認真收集數據資料、不帶偏見地尋求真理的人。在就智力、學校教育、偏見、能源等等問題展開的任何一場爭論中，一句“科學認為”往往便能駁倒對方。
But scientists have long acknowledged the existence of a "finagle factor" - a tendency by manyscientists to give a helpful touch to the data to produce desired results. The latest example of the finagle factor comes from Stephen Jay Gould, a Harvard biologist, who has examined the important 19th century work of Dr. Samuel George Morton.
但科學家們早就承認“欺詐因素”的存在——許多科學家往往對數據進行于己有利的處理，以獲得想要的結果。有關欺詐因素的最新例子來自哈佛生物學家斯蒂芬·杰伊·古爾德，他對19世紀塞繆爾·喬治·莫頓博士的重要著作進行了研究。
Morton was famous in his time not only for gathering a huge collection of skulls but also for analyzing the brain size as a measure of intelligence. He concluded that whites had the largest brains, that the brains of Indians and Blacks were smaller, and therefore, that whites make up a superior race.
莫頓生前不僅以收集大批頭蓋骨聞名，同時也以對大腦的大小進行分析，以此作為衡量智力的標準而著稱。他得出結論，白人的大腦最大，印第安人和黑人的大腦較小，因此白人人種優越。
