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Stephen Jay Gould as a political theorist

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2016

David Prindle
David Prindle*
Affiliation:
Department of Government University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station Austin, Texas 78712-0119 dprindle@mail.la.utexas.edu
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Abstract

Before his death in 2002, paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould elaborated a large and inclusive theory of life's change. In this essay I concentrate on the aspects of Gould's vast theory that have the most direct political relevance. I briefly discuss his views on the philosophy of science. I examine the way he combined political values and methodology in a seamless, critical analysis of intelligence-testing and sociobiology. I concentrate most extensively on the impact his “punctuated equilibria” concept has made on contemporary political analysis, and I demonstrate that in their appropriation of this concept political scientists have violated the rules that Gould himself articulated for its use. In closing, I consider the possibility that a comprehensive theory of life, a theory that must include political values, might approach traditional questions of political thought more satisfyingly than has conventional philosophy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 25 , Issue 1-2 , March 2006 , pp. 2 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Politics and the Life Sciences 

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