Making Sense of Heritability

Download or read book Making Sense of Heritability written by Neven Sesardic and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-13 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 and compelling intervention in a very contentious debate.