Abstract
This paper discusses the life of Stephen Jay Gould, a paleontologist and evolutionary theorist. According to the paper, his concepts conflicted with many theorists who suggested that certain human elements, such as brain size, would determine intellect. Gould published many works in his lifetime, and was well known for his concepts that brought evolutionary theory toward modern day thought.

From the Paper
"Throughout history there have been many theories regarding the evolution of the world, and of the many creatures that have existed in it. Charles Darwin, perhaps the most famous evolutionary theorist, had writings that were immediately taken out of context. For many years these misconceptions of Darwin's writings were considered facts, and the world consistently argued over their worth. Yet, there were many people that often expanded on these assumptions to use them as excuses for societal inequalities, and personal gain. By the late 1960s Stephen Jay Gould began to develop his own theories of evolution, while at the same time examining these past conclusions. His work left a profound affect on society because it posed new evidence for the world to contemplate in the realm of evolution. Furthermore, just as Darwin's writings had been so controversial, Gould's became the new controversy in the theory of evolution."

Tags:gould, evolution, science

Abstract
The paper compares and contrasts the theories of Darwin revisionist Stephen Jay Gould and creationists. The paper explains the major beliefs of creationist thought and includes Gould's belief that creationism is a pseudo-science.

From the Paper
"Stephen Jay Gould's Non moral Nature. Stephen Jay Gould prior to his death was the Alexander Agassiz Professor of Zoology at Harvard University and has been described by Phillip E Johnson as a Darwinian revisionist, who rejects the tendency in Darwinian thought to insist on the absolute primacy of natural selection as a regulatory mechanism operating in the evolutionary process."

Tags:Stephen Jay Gould, Creationism, Darwin, natural selection, evolution

From the Paper
"Stephen Jay Gould's The Mismeasure of Man seeks to demonstrate both the scientific weaknesses and political contexts of biological determinist arguments. As a side argument, Gould attempts to show that science is objective only if performed properly, like anything else. In order for scientists to obtain this all essential objectivity, he shows that they must first "shuck the constraints of their culture, and view the world as it really is" (21).


The primary focus of The Mismeasure of Man is intelligence testing. Long shrouded in pseudo-scientific mumbo jumbo, IQ testing has been used to culturally oppress the mental underdogs who occupy the lower rungs of the social ladder. The essential tragedy of such thinking is that biological determinist arguments with regard to IQ are limiting to the individual. As Gould..."

From the Paper
" Gould's book The Mismeasure of Man, is not so much a book that promotes a thesis of his own as a book that studies a thesis other people believed and how they used the doctrine of evolution to support it. After chapter 1, in which Gould quotes Plato's attempt to use the propaganda of innate (and therefore unchangeable) differences, In chapter two Gould states the following:
This books treats an argument that, to many people's surprise, seems to be a latecomer: biological determinism, the notion that people at the bottom are constructed of intrinsically inferior material (poor brains, bad genes, or whatever). Plato, as we have seen, cautiously floated this proposal in the Republic, but finally branded it as a lie (p. 31)."

Tags:BOOK, REVIEWS, (NON-FICTION)

From the Paper
"In Time's Arrow, Time's Cycle, Stephen Jay Gould discusses the evolution of geologists' understanding of the concept of deep time. Gould studied texts by Thomas Burnet, James Hutton, and Charles Lyell--three scientific writers who approached this question in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Traditionally, readings of these three writers tended to focus on the degree to which each man employed the scientific method in investigating the question of the Earth's age. The greater the scientist's dependence on scientific method, the historians reasoned, the closer he came to the truth. Thus, these scientists have often been ranked, and understood, on the basis of their adherence to standards that are familiar to the twentieth century, but were still evolving when they wrote. In the course of his repeated close readings of the texts, in which.."

Abstract
This paper explains that, ever since Charles Darwin proposed his theory of evolution, individuals involved with science and religion, such as British philosopher Tom Bethell, have tried to negate his thesis; others, such as scientist Jay Gould, recognize Darwin as one of the most brilliant people in history. The author points out that Gould responds that "survival of the fittest" is not a tautology, as claimed by Bethell. The paper relates that Gould concludes that unabated popularity must have something to do with its success in explaining the admittedly imperfect information we now possess about evolution.

From the Paper
"Bethell says he does not support Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection because: "Darwin made a mistake sufficiently serious to undermine his theory. And that mistake has only recently been recognized as such....At one point in his argument, Darwin was mislead." In the first place, Bethell has a problem with the idea of "survival of the fittest." This term normally means no more than "differential reproductive success"-the production of more surviving offspring than other competing members of the population-which is a needless repetition of the same meaning."

Tags:survival, evolution, tautology, popularity, differential

Abstract
In this paper the author looks at the concept of critical thinking. He examines the world of academia, which he suggests is saturated with ideas, assumptions and statistics. He suggests that many educators strive to teach the skills to utilize these ideas, assumptions and statistics in both a scholarly context and in real life situations. He then contends that to assume that critical thinking skills are so easily transferable is far more complex. With this in mind he moves on to look at Stephen Jay Gould's essay, "The Median Isn't the Message," in which he suggests that Gould describes the difficulties of taking statistics and academic studies out of context. Gould does this by referring to a time when he was diagnosed with a disease and how easily he could have been misled by the statistics had he chosen not to use his own critical thinking.

From the paper:

"Gould points out these personal experiences to send a message to his readers. Generally one does not relate such personal details of one's life to simply prove some academic concept. Gould wants his readers to take his experience and apply it. He tells the reader through his own account, to question everything, especially statistics. Humans have a tendency to hear statistics and interpret them without questioning what is really being said."

Tags:academia, abdominal, mesothelioma, Stephen, jay, gould, the, median, isn?t, the, message, ideas, assumptions, statistics, examination, critical, thinking, acceptance, challenging

Abstract
This paper discusses how Stephen Jay Gould's concept of evolution and Jonathan Boyarin's concept of marginality could synthesize and hypothetically explain the future of human evolution.

From the Paper
"As unlikely as it may seem, Jonathan Boyarin's "Waiting for a Jew" and Stephen Jay Gould's "What does the dreaded E word mean anyway" share a pivotal concept, that of marginality. While Boyarin describes the marginality of the Eighth Street Shul, Gould suggests that marginality could be highly impacting in terms of the genetic evolution of the human species. Just as Boyarin was able to develop transculturally in the Shul's marginal environment, Gould describes how the woolly mammoth might..."

Tags:marginality, human, species, Gould, Boyarin

Abstract
The paper describes how the four businessmen profiled in "The Tycoons"; John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Jay Gould and
J.P. Morgan, manipulated the stock market, drove up the price of gold, drove small competitors out of business through stock and bond manipulation, and generally attempted to corner each of their industries for their own profit and power. The paper then shows how as a result of their actions, some of the national laws on commerce, trading, and industry were formulated that helped create a system of fair and free enterprise. The paper discusses the passing of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, the Robinson-Patman Act, the Securities Exchange Act and the Interstate Commerce Act.

Outline:
John D. Rockefeller
Andrew Carnegie
Jay Gould
J.P. Morgan

From the Paper
"John D. Rockefeller's name is synonymous with power and money, and his relatives still reside in New York today, and dabble in politics, as well. Rockefeller is also known as the chairman of Standard Oil, and the man who helped create mega "trusts" in America (unlike the trusts of today). These trusts ultimately led to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 in an attempt to curtail the activities and mergers of corporations into giant corporations with enough power and size to shut down the nation's economy if they desired."

Tags:monopolies, corporations, cartels, trusts, stock, manipulation, free, enterprise

Abstract
This paper looks at the tremendous disparities between the rich and the poor during the Gilded Age in America. It does this by comparing the conditions and meager incomes of the masses to those of the well-known, wealthy men of that era: Jay Gould, the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers.

From the Paper
"One good way to get an idea of just how terrible the conditions were and how meager incomes were for the masses is to compare their fate with the grand estates of the rich. George Vanderbilt, son of Cornelius Vanderbilt, founder of a railroad empire, built himself a 250-room "home" on 8,000 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina (Biltmore Estate Web site, "Visit Biltmore Estate"). Today, the "Biltmore Estate" chateau is a gleaming monument to the opulence of the Gilded Age still featuring the priceless artifacts and paintings that the Vanderbilt family had stocked it with. Compared with the poverty and squalor that residents of New York tenement houses had to endure, it could be said that the Vanderbilts " and people like Jay Gould, and other "robber barons" " lived in heaven, and New York City tenement dwellers lived in hell."

Tags:haves, have-nots, robber, barrons, poverty, rural, america, tenements, railroad, empire, Cornelius, Vanderbilt