num_pages: 408
description: For countless generations people have been told that their potential as humans is limited and fundamentally unequal. The social order they have been assured is arranged by powers beyond their control. More recently the appeal has been to biology specifically the genes brain sciences the concept of intelligence and powerful new technologies. Reinforced through the authority of science and a growing belief in bio-determinism the ordering of the many for the benefit of a few has become more entrenched.Yet scientists are now waking up to the influence of ideology on research and its interpretation. In Genes Brains and Human Potential  Ken Richardson illustrates how the ideology of human intelligence has infiltrated genetics brain sciences and psychology flourishing in the vagueness of basic concepts a shallow nature-versus-nurture debate and the overhyped claims of reductionists. He shows how ideology more than pure science has come to dominate our institutions especially education encouraging fatalism about the development of human intelligence among individuals and societies.Genes Brains and Human Potential goes much building on work being done in molecular biology epigenetics dynamical systems evolution theory and complexity theory it maps a fresh understanding of intelligence and the development of human potential. Concluding with an upbeat message for human possibilities this synthesis of diverse perspectives will engender new conversations among students researchers and other interested readers.
language: English
title: Genes, Brains, and Human Potential: The Science and Ideology of Intelligence
publisher: Columbia University Press