piece<\/a>\u00a0he posted on the webzine Taki\u2019s Magazine called \u201cThe Talk: Nonblack Version.\u201d \u201cThe talk\u201d is what many professional blacks call the coming-of-age conversation they have with their kids, the main theme of which seems to be the persistence of racism in American society. Derbyshire\u2019s version focuses on some matters of fact, such as the disproportionate numbers of black criminals, and others of speculation, such as black intelligence inferiority. It was the latter, of course, that got Derbyshire fired by National Review, which called such ideas \u201cnasty and indefensible.\u201d<\/p>\nSurely, our main concern should be whether the notion that blacks aren\u2019t as smart as whites is wrong, and what evidence demonstrates its errors. Putting this speculation out of bounds precludes the airing of the evidence and arguments that explode it. Indeed, this eagerness to demonize and forbid any discussion at all reminds me of the climate change fundamentalists, who simply assert that there is a \u201cconsensus\u201d and that anyone who doubts it is anti-science, a \u201cdenier,\u201d or in thrall to big oil.<\/p>\n
Personally, I have doubts about the whole intelligence and race debate for many reasons. First, I\u2019m not sure that \u201crace\u201d is a useful way to talk about people. The genetic differences accounting for variations in hair texture or skin pigment strike me as trivial compared to the fundamental reality of human beings, which resides not in the material world but in the spiritual, that immortal, free soul created in the likeness of God. More practically, the notion that there are pure \u201craces\u201d seems with some few exceptions to be empirically false. There\u2019s been a lot of genetic mixing and blending going on over the millennia, and we don\u2019t yet understand how genes work, or how they interact over time with each other and various physical and cultural environments, to pinpoint a genetic cause for much of anything. Race, in short, is a pseudo-scientific idea reflecting the fundamentalist materialism that arose in the late 18th century and that attempted to reduce all human reality and behavior to matter and the laws of nature. That\u2019s why the first progressives took to racism so eagerly: it was just another example of how \u201cscience\u201d could provide reliable knowledge about people that in turn could be used by experts to arrange society more efficiently.<\/p>\n
If one believes in human freedom and free will, then one must reject such materialist determinism that reduces people to mere passive effects of material reality whether environment or genes. More important is not how people look, but how they live, the culture that expresses their sense of human identity, the human mind and imagination, and the way people should treat each other. This is how the ancient Greeks determined inferiority and superiority: not by appearance, but by culture, particularly the political and social orders and the language that expressed both. The Greeks looked down on the Persians, for example, not because the latter were swarthy, but because they lived as slaves subjected to the Great King, rather than as free citizens whose fate was in their own hands. This focus on culture rather than nature, moreover, opened up the possibility of recognizing a universal human identity, for anybody in theory can leave his culture of origin and join another by learning its language and living by its mores and customs. The ancient orator Isocrates around 380 BC expressed this insight about the superiority of culture over nature in explaining human identity: \u201cThe name Hellenes [Greeks] suggests no longer a race but an intelligence [or \u201cway of thinking\u201d], and the title Hellene is applied rather to those who share our culture [including \u201ceducation\u201d] than to those who share a common blood [or \u201cphysical nature\u201d].\u201d Indeed, America has proven the truth of this insight, for ideally it is a multi-ethnic nation bound not by \u201cblood\u201d but by the ideas of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the culture of freedom they created.<\/p>\n
The second category, \u201cintelligence,\u201d is equally reductive. The modern world puts a high value on and rewards a certain kind of intelligence, what Aristotle called\u00a0nous<\/em>, the capacity for abstract reasoning needed for science and mathematics. This is the intelligence captured by standardized tests, and of course it is important for a high-tech world. But Aristotle also talks about \u201cpractical wisdom,\u201d the sort of thinking ability we need for making our way in a complex world of time, change, uncertainty, and equally complex people. We can break practical wisdom down even further, into social intelligence and moral intelligence, both as, or perhaps more, necessary for civilization as scientific intelligence. Nor do high levels of scientific intelligence mean high levels of the other sorts. (How can you tell if a mathematician is gregarious? He looks at your shoes while he\u2019s talking to you.) More seriously, Germany in the 20th century gives us an example of how destructive the lack of moral intelligence can be no matter how highly developed scientific intelligence is. I think we should be more concerned about recognizing and fostering moral intelligence and practical wisdom, the lack of which lies behind much of the progressive mischief transforming America for the worse.<\/p>\nNo doubt some will find my opinions a cowardly evasion of reality, while others will see them as an apology for racism. But the main issue should be carrying on the debate, not monitoring our adherence to shibboleths. Rather than banishing the issues Derbyshire raised, we should bring them out into the open, let people make the case one way or the other, and judge the evidence and arguments. That\u2019s how an open, free society is supposed to work. As we\u2019ve heard repeatedly, sunlight is the best disinfectant of bad ideas. Keeping them hidden or pretending they\u2019ve been definitively refuted without making an argument or marshaling evidence only leaves such ideas to fester in the darkness.<\/p>\n
\n
\u00a92012 Bruce S. Thornton<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Bruce S. Thornton FrontPage Magazine Wittgenstein once wrote, \u201cWhat we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence.\u201d Ex-National Review writer John Derbyshire has just learned the modern American version of this truth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[22,120,194],"tags":[107,1036,13,1042,93],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p466Sb-dt","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":815,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/race-on-the-brain\/","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":0},"title":"Race–on the Brain","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Victor Davis Hanson NRO's\u00a0The Corner Someone named Elspeth Reeve,\u00a0in an\u00a0Atlantic\u00a0posting, is suggesting that the Derbyshire essay was no different from other commentary on\u00a0National Reviewon the Trayvon Martin case, citing my observations, along with those of others at NR, as proof: Perhaps Derbyshire was surprised by his dismissal, given that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Identity Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Identity Politics","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/american-culture\/identity-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7227,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/what-eric-holder-doesnt-want-to-talk-about\/","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":1},"title":"What Eric Holder Doesn’t Want to Talk About","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 Remember when Attorney General Eric Holder called Americans a \u201cnation of cowards\u201d who put \u201ccertain subjects . . . off limits\u201d? Holder, of course, was referring to \u201csubjects\u201d that in fact we do nothing else but talk about non-stop \u2013 the refusal of whites\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Claude_McKay-237x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7166,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-race-hacks-defend-their-industry\/","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":2},"title":"The Race-Hacks Defend Their Industry","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 1, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/\u00a0FrontPage Magazine\u00a0 The race-hack usual subjects recently attacked Congressman Paul Ryan for stating that the problems plaguing the poor\u2013\u2013incarceration, fatherless children, drug abuse, rampant violence, and welfare-dependence\u2013\u2013 are a consequence of a dysfunctional culture that scorns marriage, parenthood, education, work, and virtues like self-control. Given that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3300,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/obamas-race-card\/","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":3},"title":"Obama’s Race Card","author":"victorhanson","date":"August 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Private Papers The liberal media are in full Captain Renault mode, \u201cshocked, shocked\u201d to find race injected into the presidential campaign by a \u201cSwift-boating\u201d John McCain. How shameless can you get? The Obama campaign\u2013\u2013indeed, the whole of Obama\u2019s public existence\u2013\u2013is about nothing other than his perceived\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. Thornton","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/bruce-s-thornton\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8390,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/baltimore-and-the-betrayal-of-black-dignity\/","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":4},"title":"Baltimore and the Betrayal of Black Dignity","author":"victorhanson","date":"May 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The real losers in the Freddie Gray riots. by Bruce S. Thornton \/\/ FrontPage Magazine [1]Baltimore is the latest American city to become a stage for the farce that is our national racial discourse. The swift, politicized indictment of 6 police officers for the death of Freddie Gray\u2013\u2013which brought down,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Contributors"","block_context":{"text":"Our Contributors","link":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/ahref=\/index.php\/categories\/angry-reader\/categorylink\/a\/our-contributors\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Image #: 36434158 Baltimore firefighters battle a three-alarm fire at Gay and Chester Streets on Monday, April 27, 2015, in Baltimore. It was unclear whether it was related to ongoing riots. (Jerry Jackson\/Baltimore Sun\/TNS) ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/baltimore-fire-fighters-riot-500x333.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3308,"url":"https:\/\/victorhanson.com\/wordpress\/the-unexamined-president-and-his-media-enablers\/","url_meta":{"origin":835,"position":5},"title":"The Unexamined President and His Media Enablers","author":"victorhanson","date":"April 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bruce S. Thornton Advancing a Free Society As usual, the mainstream media are getting wrong the significance of President Obama\u2019s release of his actual birth certificate. In the liberal-left narrative, the \u201cbirther\u201d issue was always evidence of the Republican Party\u2019s fringe kookiness: as the\u00a0Daily Kos\u2019s Markos Moulitsas crowed, \u201cWhat\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bruce S. Thornton"","block_context":{"text":"Bruce S. 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