|
|
Article: Good Breeding.('A Life of Sir Francis Galton: From African Exploration to the Birth of Eugenics')
- Article from:
- National Review
- Article date:
- January 28, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 National Review, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A Life of Sir Francis Galton: From African Exploration to the Birth of Eugenics, by Nicholas Wright Gillham (Oxford, 432 pp., $35)
Ninety years after his death, arguments still rage about Francis Galton's intellectual legacy. Galton fans abound, but so do calumniators. I am one of many who are bowled over by the range, depth, and originality of his thinking, and by his boundless curiosity about everything from the efficacy of prayer to the respective contributions of "nature" and "nurture" to human differences. Galton popularized the nature-nurture dichotomy, even as he insistently emphasized the primacy of nature. This judgment was considered suspect in ...