Why Nathan Cofnas Is Wrong About Race Science and IQ

Comments · 2K

• ST

  @StrictlyEdPod · 2 weeks ago · pinned

  Welcome back to Strictly Education! Please leave your questions in the comments below and I'll pick a few to answer in next week's episode.

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• VI

  @victorzurkowski2388 · 2 weeks ago

  And yet, bad ideas should not be censored. They should be given a place, so they can be discussed and attacked.

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• AN

  @AndrzejFLena · 8 days ago (edited)

  I&apos;m also a fan, but here I unfortunately disagree with the sensational straw-manning of Cofnas&apos;s work. He&apos;s smart enough to understand that most things have several causes that interact with each other in unexpected ways. What he says is that we allow any explanation OTHER than race science, that&apos;s a place we don&apos;t go as a society, the discussion we refuse to have. I actually think his work is sincere, he genuinely believes he is doing the right thing, because if we discover the truth we might find a better solution than resentful superficial identity politics, but you have compared him to the far right which is extremely unfair to him.<br>Even the quote you use actually expresses his opinion on the moral worth-intelligence dimension rather well: essentially, if you have a gift, use it - you have greater responsibility (in the quote: &quot;your moral superiority is not guaranteed by your score on an IQ test&quot;) which is I think fair. We don&apos;t pretend everyone is equally beautiful, tall or funny, why shy away from intelligence? He is in favour of meritocracy, but just doesn&apos;t go as far as to promise that meritocracy will lead to equal representation.

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• JA

  @jamesboekbinder3967 · 2 weeks ago

  I&apos;m a huge fan of Ms. Birbalsingh, but find - with all respect - that she is presenting a complete caricature of Cofnas&apos; views here. Suggestion: invite him on the show to discuss them and let him explain.

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• BA

  @BaconNBeer · 2 weeks ago

  The only bigger fool than Jason Arday was the people at Cambridge that hired him.

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• TH

  @TheDanieltoye · 2 weeks ago

  I agree with others who say you are strawmanning Cofnas&apos; points. &nbsp;In particular, at no point have I ever heard him say that IQ makes you a morally good person. &nbsp;And I have absolutely never heard him say that belief in hereditarianism is some marker of moral goodness either. &nbsp;In fact, the idea that belief in one theory over another is exactly the kind of reasoning (if you can call it that) that is found on the left of politics. <br> <br>However the most interesting part came at the end when you say that Cofnas has said that intelligence somehow maps onto intrinsic value of human beings. <br> <br>Citation needed. &nbsp;I asked Gemini &quot;Has Cofnas said that these socially important traits map onto intrinsic moral worth of human beings?&quot; Gemini said &quot;No, Nathan Cofnas does not argue that group-level trait differences map onto intrinsic moral worth. &nbsp;In his philosophical writings and defenses of hereditarianism, Cofnas explicitly distinguishes between empirical facts (measures of cognitive ability, traits, or genetics) and moral principles (human rights and individual moral worth).&quot; <br> <br>So it would be interesting to see the source for what you say.

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• MA

  @majungasaurusaaaa · 2 weeks ago (edited)

  And while we should do everything to provide everyone with the best education possible, we&apos;d be deluded to think capabilities are the same across all races. &nbsp;Boys and girls are different and we&apos;re well served to acknowledge that. You don&apos;t call it &quot;soft bigotry&quot; not expecting a wheelchair bound person to climb stairs.<br><br>But as far as KB&apos;s job is concerned, this issue makes no difference. We&apos;re not asking 12 year olds to colonize space or cure cancer. We&apos;re asking them to behave decently and finish their homework. And that is doable at any IQ north of 60.

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• DJ

  @djjordan1019 · 2 weeks ago

  The American black kids have access to schools and more and yet now their literacy rate and the ability to speak English has declined dramatically.

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• DR

  @DrJodyEdwardGinn · 5 days ago

  I started making this point to my academic colleagues decades ago when I saw them moving further left, that radicalism begets radicalism

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• ON

  @onlytime-j5t · 2 weeks ago

  The indigenous population had been living in Australia for about 60 thousand years but they had never developed beyond the stone age, despite having all of the raw materials with which to develop &nbsp;a highly sophisticated society. Europeans (many of them criminals) went there and within a very short time period had developed a highly complex culture. It would be very interesting to hear what factors played a part in that process.

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• TO

  @toh81390 · 2 weeks ago

  The far left&apos;s &quot;Political correctness&quot; level &nbsp;almost reach Nazi level.

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• ON

  @onlytime-j5t · 2 weeks ago (edited)

  What was happening in the Congo before the Belgians went there. At what stage of development were they. Please illuminate .

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