Concepts and Analysis of Stephen J. Gould’s Essay “Dolly’s Fashion and Louis’s Passion”
Number of pages:
4
ABSTRACT:
This is a 4 page paper discussing Gould’s essay “Dolly’s Fashion and Louis’s Passion”. Anthropologist Stephen J. Gould questions in his essay “Dolly’s Fashion and Louis’s Passion” (2000) man’s presumed need to always present components within the world in categories and dichotomies. He argues that human life is filled with such “foibles” and conflicts as firstly “our need to create order in a complex world begets our worst mental habit: dichotomy” and second that “many deep questions about our loves and livelihood, and fates of nations, truly have no answers”. One of the most prevalent dichotomies which seems to annoy Gould the most and which leads man down many false paths is that of the “nature versus nurture” debate; or the “genetic versus environmental sources of human abilities and behaviors”. The fact this question is always an “either-or dichotomy verges on the nonsensical” according to Gould. He then proceeds to highlight two particular modern readings in which the scientific perspective (nature) is presented but the environmental (nurture) perspective is ignored because of today’s preference for the scientific theory. Despite the current trend of today, Gould and some educators do not ignore the centuries of debate which have also discussed the nurture component and more importantly for Gould, readers should be aware that this debate (and others) should not be considered as “either-or”.
Bibliography lists 3 sources.
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File: D0_TJGould1.rtf
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