Professor James R. Flynn is renowned for his belief that the IQ gap between black and white Americans is not genetic, but environmental in origin. Flynn's controversial new book offers an alternative to the vision of American society popularized by Herrnstein and Murray in The Bell Curve and is a must-read for all those wanting to keep up to date with the IQ debate. It traces the history of American idealism from Jefferson to the followers of Leo Strauss; analyses the (...) black marriage market, the case for affirmative action, the folly of Iraq, and the liberal failure of will; and concludes with a powerful defence of humane ideals and human autonomy. With its clear and attractive prose, social scientists, philosophers and the general public will find this a unique and exciting book that will rearm American idealism with new ideas. (shrink)

The Problem of Ethical Scepticism To deal with the problem of ethical scepticism , to show why it is of particular interest to political activists and ...

It is commonly held that when there is a conflict of basic ideals, e.g. a humane man v. an elitist or a Social Darwinist or someone who holds a revenge ethic, no moral justification is possible. This paper attempts to go further and show that such a justification would be undesirable, would carry a price few would be willing to pay. The thesis is developed to shed light not only on classical thinkers (Plato, Locke, Kant) but also on the attractions (...) of naturalism and intuitionism - and to suggest the need for a non-moral approach to justification, an approach emphasizing appeals to logic, self-interest, and personal happiness. (shrink)

"Jim Flynn examines the tough decisions we face and urges us to think philosophically, not be influenced by subconscious conditioning inherited from our parents, our religion, or any other influences. An introduction to philosophy, and a tour through modern science, from research on the workings of the human brain to deciphering the matter that makes up the universe"--Publisher information.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book offers a model introduction to political philosophy, addressing philosophers from Plato to Rawls and Nozick, with each thinker treated as exploring perennial problems. These include ethical truth, free will, the common good, whether God exists, whether America could become a Hobbesian world sovereign, appeals to nature, free speech, the nature of rights, how one can argue with Nietzsche, whether history is predictable, whether the market can be humanized, and assumed genetic differences between races and genders. When a thinker (...) poses a problem not resolvable at that time, (such as racial equality) modern social science and economics are used to provide answers. There are two persistent themes in this book: namely, that a futile search for ethical truth has drained the original image of the good society (Plato and Aristotle) of its rich content, and that the market has replaced justice as the ordering principle of human society leaving philosophers helpless unless they learn economics. (shrink)

Brain physiology and IQ gains over time both show that various cognitive skills, such as on-the-spot problem solving and arithmetic reasoning, are functionally independent, despite being bundled up in the correlational matrix called g. We need a theory of intelligence that treats the physiology and sociology of intelligence as having integrity equal to the psychology of individual differences. (Published Online April 5 2006).