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Darwin 200

Should scientists study race and IQ? NO: Science and society do not benefit

Nature volume 457, pages 786–788 (2009)Cite this article

In the first of two opposing commentaries, Steven Rose argues that studies investigating possible links between race, gender and intelligence do no good. In the second, Stephen Ceci and Wendy M. Williams argue that such research is both morally defensible and important for the pursuit of truth.

Are there some areas of potential knowledge that scientists should not seek out? Or, if they do, should they keep the knowledge secret, hidden from the hoi polloi? Certainly Francis Bacon, that great theorist of the birth of modern science, thought so. For with knowledge comes power — potentially dangerous power. In his utopian novel The New Atlantis, scholars determined which of their findings were too dangerous to be shared. Modern governments, obsessed with biosecurity, make similar decisions about what can be researched, how, and in what way disseminated. Private companies bind researchers with non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements. Genetic tests for disorders that have no treatment, such as late-stage Alzheimer's, are often not offered for ethical reasons. As Steven Shapin's book The Scientific Life documents, the idea of free, untrammelled and publicly-disseminated research, if it ever corresponded to reality, looks distinctly unrealistic today.

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  1. Steven Rose is a neuroscientist and emeritus professor at the Open University, UK. S.P.R.Rose@open.ac.uk ,

    Steven Rose

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  1. Steven Rose
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See Editorial, page 763 , and online at http://www.nature.com/darwin . Discuss this commentary package on Nature Networks .

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Rose, S. Should scientists study race and IQ? NO: Science and society do not benefit. Nature 457, 786–788 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/457786a

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