Making Sense of Heritability

In this book, Neven Sesardic defends the view that it is both possible and useful to measure the separate contributions of heredity and environment to the explanation of human psychological differences. He critically examines the view - very widely accepted by scientists, social scientists and philosophers of science - that heritability estimates have no causal implications and are devoid of any interest. In a series of clearly written chapters he introduces the reader to the problems and subjects the arguments to close philosophical scrutiny. His conclusion is that anti-heritability arguments are based on conceptual confusions and misunderstandings of behavioural genetics. His book is a fresh, original and compelling intervention in a very contentious debate.

• A controversial study of the relationship between heritability, race and IQ • Challenges the widespread views of scientists and philosophers of science • An accessible, jargon-free examination of heritability

Introduction; 1. The nature-nurture debate: a premature burial?; 2. A tangle of interactions: separating genetic and environmental influences; 3. Lost in correlations? Direct and indirect genetic causes; 4. From individuals to groups: genetics and race; 5. Genes and malleability; 6. Science and sensitivity, 7. Conclusions.