Re: Adaptationism again

Stephen Barnard (steve@megafauna.com)
Tue, 10 Sep 1996 08:48:56 -0800

Paul Gallagher wrote:
>
[snip]
>
> Anyway, why do people dislike Gould so much? Tell the truth here!
>
[snip]

I don't really "dislike" Gould. I've enjoyed a great deal of his
writings. I am getting increasingly annoyed at him, however, for a
several reasons:

- Relentless self-promotion, with one recycled notion of exaggerated
importance after another, designed to overthrow orthodoxy (which isn't a
bad thing in itself, but he tries too hard and keeps coming up short).

- Blatant politicising of scientific questions, thereby implicitly
questioning the motives of his opponents.

- Straw-man argumentation.

- An increasingly turgid, overblown, even Victorian style of writing.
His latest book is nearly unreadable.

Steve Barnard