Intelligence In Men Research Articles

The Revolution in Intellectual Work

About two years ago two Soviet journalists surveyed the prospects of science as seen by Russia's leading scientists and reported their findings in a semi-popular book, Today and Tomorrow in Russian Science. This selection was translated from an Italian edition of the book, L'oggi e il Domani della Scienze in Russia (Milan: Aldo Martello, 1959). The authors outline some of the consequences of electronic computers and related devices, as suggested by S. A. Lebedew of the Soviet Academy of Science. In addition to mathematical and statistical uses, computers will have extensive applica tions in industry and in the retrieval and transmission of information. Man's intelligence will remain superor but, in effect, the devices will revolutionize mental work. The set of ideas closely parallels American commentary on the subject over the past decade.

Industry and the Scientific Method

E YVEN haphazard change frequently shows patterns. Most people observe these accidental patterns, call them natural, and hope for the repetition of those which are favorable and the elimination of those which are not. Change, however, can be controlled, within limits, of course, by man's intelligence. After eons of trial-and-error experiment, we are beginning to grasp this fact. We suddenly find ourselves projected into what everyone calls a scientific age, and dependent upon a culture which is predominantly industrial. If industry is to deserve any shreds of free enterprise with which to protect itself from the inclement blasts of collectivism, it must learn to apply the methods of science in the service of an entire society. So far, it has used a minimum of science to mask a philosophy which is in the main exploitive, greedy, and predatory. What effective uses can it make of science-besides hoodwinking the public with a man in a white coat? Through applied sociology and economics, industry can often open up new markets which not only provide for disposition of its own products but which vitalize the entire business cycle as well. These new markets may be limited and local or they may be vast and international. The significant point is, however, that one does not need new or underprivileged populations in order to find new markets. This is the crudest form of exploitation. Rather, one must discover or create a new need in the minds and lives of the people who constitute the potential market. Already the advertising business has developed this method to some extent, but for profit first and only, and often without regard for the validity of the needs created. The fact that some of these are basic and fundamental is largely accidental; the fact that many of them are frivolous and ridiculous reflects the shallow nature of the research groundwork (if any) which preceded production, as well as the predatory attitude of producer toward consumer. Industrial research must reach out far ahead of production, forecast possible avenues of approach to the markets of the future, and indicate the products with which those markets may be supplied. Too small an amount of capital has been invested by industry in research during the last forty years, although a meager nucleus has established beyond a doubt the validity of research in industry. In the future, industry must be prepared to spend substantially greater and greater sums in this field if it is to develop effectively. When we consider the fact that most

A Companion to the Summa: Volume IV, The Way of Life by Walter Farrell, O. P., S. T. D., S. T. M.

BOOK REVIEWS A Companion to the Summa: Volume IV, The Way of Life. By the REv. WALTER FARRELL, O.P., S. T.D., S. T.M. New York: Sheed and Ward, 194~. Pp. viii+ 464. $3.75. The Way of Life brings to completion a theological work of outstanding excellence. This latest and last volume of Father Farrell's Companion to the Summa corresponds to the Pars Tertia and the Supplementum. In other words, it is concerned with the theology of the Incarnation and the Redemption, the Sacraments and the Last Things. In this, as in the three preceding volumes, the author has striven to produce, as he himself expresses it, a layman's edition of the Summa Theologica. He has been eminently successful. Indeed, he has surpassed his objective, for not only the layman but also the priest and the professional theologian will find in the Companion enlightenment and guidance toward a deeper appreciation of the treasures of sacred lore bequeathed to the Catholic Church by the Angelic Doctor. Twenty chapters make up The Way of Life. The first forms an introduction , developing the theme that the human mind craves mystery. The appetite for mystery is so keen that it leaves a man restless, bored in the face of the obvious. Today, however, the mysterious is too frequently looked upon as an insult to man's intelligence, to his courage, to his willingness to work. The truth of the matter is that the study of mysteryparticularly of the supreme mystery, God-evokes courage and love and promotes the substantial progress of the mind by sharpening the intellectual powers. The three previous volumes of the Companion deal with the mysteries of God and of human conduct in its relation to. God; this volume deals with the climax of mystery, the mystery of God made man. The following ten chapters propound the doctrines of Christology and Soteriology according to the order followed by St. Thomas. The fittingness of the Incarnation, the mode of the hypostatic union, the integrity of our Lord's two natures, the perfections of His humanity and its so-called defects -these vital truths centered about the Word Incarnate are accurately and convincingly presented. Then the author explains the mediatorial office of Christ and traces the course of His earthly life in its main events from His birth to His passion and death, with His subsequent triumph in the resurrection and the ascension. One chapter is devoted to the Virgin Mother of God and her sublime privileges, concluding with a striking contrast between Mary as she is portrayed by Catholic faith and theology and the ideal of womanhood prevalent in the modern world. The twelfth chapter, one of the best in the book, entitled "Fruitful 119 120 BOOK REVIEWS Signs of Life," presents the doctrine of the sacraments in general, stressing particularly the truth that a sacrament is a sign. Then, six chapters are devoted to the study of the individual sacraments, the greatest measure of space being given, as would be expected, to the Holy Eucharist. Naturally, the author brings prominently the ingenious reasoning of St. Thomas for the seven-fold number of the sacraments, especially the parallel between the needs of man's physical life and the spiritual needs cared for by the divinely established signs of supernatural life. " The sacraments greet man from the womb, and usher him to his tomb " (p. 265) . Particularly worthy of praise is Father Farrell's exposition of our Lord's presence in the Blessed Sacrament in the mode of substance (pp. 310-313). The last two chapters are concerned with the solemn verities of death, judgment, the resurrection, eternal reward and everlasting punishment. In its proper place Father Farrell treats the subject of the unending torments of heH without any attempt to compromise with modern notions. " It is not surprising that men should shrink from hell . . . What is surprising and not at aU flattering to humanity is that men should shrink from the truth of hell, as if the place of eternal torment could be obliterated by our denial of it. J[t is a triumph of unreason so to deal with any truth; it is the height of...

Intelligence in Man after Large Removals of Cerebral Tissue: Defects Following Right Temporal Lobectomy

Intelligence in Man after Large Removals of Cerebral Tissue: Defects Following Right Temporal Lobectomy

Intelligence in Man after Large Removals of Cerebral Tissue: Report of Four Left Frontal Lobe Cases

Intelligence in Man after Large Removals of Cerebral Tissue: Report of Four Left Frontal Lobe Cases

Are Politics Moral?

T nHE distance between the prongs of dilemmatic horns increases the farther they are projected from the substance in which they take root. In a discussion of Political Morality in this Journal (October, I938) Professor Arthur Liebert projected the alternatives of human activity so far that a real dilemma was created thereby; the horn upon which he pinned himself appears hardly less deadly than that which he avoided. Man indeed faces an unpromising future if, in his dissatisfaction with the inept platitudes of responsibility, self-determination, and of freedom, he has no choice but to turn to a rigidly deterministic which finds its sources exclusively in considerations and deferences. This dichotomy of political determination versus self-determination seems to me a very questionable disjunction of the factors of human activity. In the first place it is a much too simple statement of the complex problem of individual activity and social organization. That the rigidity of totalitarian structure should afford the only possible alternative to the insufficiencies evidenced by crass individualism appears an arbitrary limitation of the possibilities of human activity and organization. That the intelligence of man should find itself forced to choose between a liberty which is stupid license and a security which is irrational determination-that is to render trivial all the factors of activity, organization, and intelligence. Such rigid alternatives are possible only at the emotional level of discourse, and the emotional or ideological level appears to be common to discussions of liberalism versus totalitarianism. I hold no brief for totalitarian governments; most of us would have little difficulty in matching Professor Liebert's antipathies, hate for hate; but I seriously question that the emotionalism of liberal attitudes of defense will be conducive to any other clarification than the questionable settlement of war, the final diremption of ideological emotionalism. As a matter of fact, it appears that liberalism is beating with its own symbols the very chant of the dictators, but with so much clatter and confusion that the tune is well-nigh drowned in the accompaniment. Professor Liebert contends that totalitarian governments have subordinated morality to politics, whereas it is his belief that moral values can be maintained only if politics are subordinated to morality. The terminology in which this argument is cast is confusing; what Professor Liebert apparently intends is that certain social movements are expressive of a kind of morality which is not consistent with the principles of personal ideal-

Inheritance of Intelligence in Man

IN a recent paper1 Dr. C. C. Hurst has discussed the inheritance of intelligence in man. After adverting to the fact that the data of Galton and Woods show that general intelligence in adults grades continuously from high to low both in general and in selected populations, Dr. Hurst finds it convenient to adopt ten grades of intelligence, because some of the data he uses is already so graded. He regards as a special non-segregating type those families which consist only of Grade 5 (mediocre) offspring whatever the grades of the parents, while he is content to classify as segregating a family of four Grade 4 (dull) offspring of parents themselves both of Grade 4.

A genetical formula for the inheritance of intelligence in man

The inheritance of natural mental ability was first demonstrated statistically by Galton (1869) and his conclusions have since been considerably amplified and developed by Pearson (1904, 1919) and Woods (1906). So far no attempt has been made to express the problem in terms of a genetical formula, but recent progress in experimental psychology and genetics has made this possible. Material . Two distinct sets of material have been used in this investigation. (1) The cumulative results of a series of studies of the natural mental ability of the parents and offspring of 194 Leicestershire families continued through many years, which involved the personal investigation and gradings for intelligence of 388 parents and their 812 offspring, most of whom were recorded as adults. The same families were studied for the determination of the inheritance of Eye-colour in Man (Hurst, 1908, 1925). The material includes representative families of various classes and conditions of life in a rural manufacturing and agricultural district of South-west Leicestershire and provides a fair sample of the general population of the area, the only conscious selection exercised being large families of faithful matrons containing the highest and lowest grades of intelligence in the district. This material is distinguished as the L. F. data (Leicestershire families).

Intelligence in man and ape.

Intelligence in man and ape.

Flechsig on the Localisation of Mental Processes in the Brain

Two Treatises∗ recently published contain the views of Professor Flechsig, of Leipzig, upon the present state of our knowledge of brain function. The first is in the form of an oration delivered in 1894 in the University Church of Leipzig, of which a new edition appeared last year. The second is a shorter pamphlet, which contains an account of the most recent researches in the structure of the brain. In the oration the notes occupy three times the space of the text; in the other treatise the notes are not so long. In both these notes are important, and form in some passages the most interesting part of the work. He holds that the time has now come when the old introspective psychology must turn for guidance to anatomy and physiology. It is only within the last few years that such claims could be entertained. The localisation of mental operations in the brain was made by Hippocrates from observations of the loss of function caused by diseases or wounds of the head. Polybos, the son-in-law of the great Greek physician, held that the brain was the centre of the nerves and the central organ of the thinking soul; and Erasistratos, of Alexandria, first taught that the superior intelligence of man depended upon the greater size of the human brain, and the more complicated structure of the convolutions. A new era began with the experiments of Fritsch and Hitzig in our own day. Since then experimental physiology and clinical observations, going hand in hand together, have led to the accumulation of a large fund of knowledge about the several functions of the nervous centres. Another path of discovery was opened by Golgi through his new method of differentiating the finer structure of the grey masses of the brain by his silver colourings; and also by Kölliker, who, working with low powers, was able to demonstrate the course of the motor and sensory nerve paths and of the association system in the brain.

INSTINCT IN ANIMALS AND INTELLIGENCE IN MAN CONTRASTED.WITH AN EXAMINATION OF DARWIN'S DICTUM OF THE "MISSING LINK" AND LINNÆUS' DOGMA "NATURA NON FACET SALTUS," WITH A FEW ORIGINAL OBSERVATIONS THEREON. Read by Title in the Section of Medicine and Physiology at the Forty-Second Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, heldal Washington, D, C, May 5, 1891.

ABSTRACT in animals is a matter of daily observation by every class of mind, and has always been a subject of great interest, nevertheless it seems still little understood. Writers in psychology are not yet agreed even upon its definition.Ribot, a modern French writer, says it embraces those psychological phenomena occurring in animals, and all forms of mental activity, inferior to those in men. A German contemporary says It is an act conformed to an end, but without consciousness of that end. Darwin's definition is more elaborate, but scarcely more definite; by reason of its length it is more open to criticism. He says Instinct is an action which we otherwise would require experience to perform, when performed by an animal, more especially by a very young one, without any experience, and when performed by many individuals in the same way without their knowing for what

Book Reviews

THE first edition of this book by the accomplished and efficient head-master of Uppingham School appeared with the pseudonym “Benjamin Place”on its title-page; this second and much-enlarged edition bears the author's own name. The title may be apt to mislead some as to the nature of the contents; it is not a work on Biology. The author apparently means by “Life-Science” the science of those phenomena which are the manifestations of the higher kinds of life, as opposed to those sciences which deal with “matter animate and inanimate.” “The world open to man's intelligence,” he divides into two parts: “On the one side there is matter animate and inanimate, which as matter is capable of material investigation, and which is below man. On the other side there is life as displayed in feeling and thought, and belief founded on the facts of life. The science of this is Life-Science.” Mr. Thring believes that man cannot live by science alone; that there is a kind of knowledge, a circle of belief, a region of activity, quite outside and independent of science strictly so-called, and which is of far more importance to the great bulk of humanity than any amount of scientific knowledge. To Mr. Thring, in the present “displacement of traditional ideas, it has seemed no useless task to look steadily at what has happened, to take stock, as it were, of man's gains, and to endeavour, amidst new circumstances, to arrive at some rational estimate of the bearing of things, to examine the instruments and means at our disposal, to examine our strength; so that the limits of what is possible, at all events, may be clearly marked out for ordinary persons.” “This book is an endeavour to bring out some of the main facts of the world.” Mr. Thring puts forward many statements regarding the inadequacy of language as a vehicle for thought, and on the imperfection of human intelligence itself at the present stage of man's progress, which claim the consideration of all those who are inclined to deny them; and much of what he says, as to the sphere and power of scientific research, deserves to be pondered by all earnest seekers after truth, and, indeed, has almost always been admitted by the highest intellects, who have tried to explore “the great ocean of undiscovered truth.”Mr. Thring's style is characterised by a rugged force, and a certain novelty of expression and even of construction, which will render his book interesting to many readers, and which are frequently the outcome of his intense earnestness and the thoroughness of his convictions, as well as of impatience with those intolerant scientific specialists who imagine the little group of phenomena that comes within the ken of their limited vision to be the universe. We heartily commend the book to the attention of our readers.