Raymond Fanchers Francis Galton and Phrenology - Assignment Example

Fancher on Galton Table of Contents a) Research Preparation 3 A. Answers to Questions 3 B. Results of Conduct of Internet Search 4 b)Discussion 4 A. Biography and General Discussion 4 B. Fancher on Galton 7 References 9 a) Research Preparation A. Answers to Questions 1) Raymond Fanchers Francis Galton and Phrenology The article looks at Galton’s attitude towards phrenology. Fancher considers the contradictions between his disdain for it on the one hand, and his use of it in the early part of his work on heredity. The article basically posits that there are contradictions between the latter attitude toward phrenology, and Galtons early adoption of key concepts from that field (Fancher, 1993). 2) Gillhams Look at Galton and His Early Work on Eugenics The article looks at the life of Galton and focuses on his work related to the science of eugenics. His work on heredity receives special treatment. The article establishes Galtons seminal work as having substantial impact on the course of development of eugenics as a scientific and academic discipline (Gillham, 2001). 3) Bulmers Book on Galton as a Groundbreaking Scientist on Biometry and Heredity The book contains a biography of Francis Galton. It also discusses in the main the development of Galton’s thinking and theorizing relating to biometry and heredity. It is partly biography and partly a discussion of the work of Galton relative to the disciplines (Bulmer, 2003). 4) Galtons Hereditary Talent and Character The article posits that the traits and characteristics of individuals are born out of heredity, where those individuals inherit their characteristics from their parents. Similarly, Galton makes the case for so-called mental qualities or intelligence. He refers to intelligence as talent and character, which can be traced to heredity (Galton, 1865). B. Results of Conduct of Internet Search 1) History of Psychology Blog: Tredouxs Critique of Fancher on Galton Regarding Galtons Ethnographic Work The article evaluates Fancher’s look at the ethnography of Galton, and makes observations about how much emphasis Fancher has given to the merits of Galton’s scientific work on the matter. The article makes several observations relating to Fancher’s use of the biography of Galton to explain the roots of his disdain towards other races in Africa, among others (Tredoux, 2004). 2) History of Psychology Website: Fancher on Galtons Literary Style The writer looks at the literary merits of the work of Galton. Fancher makes the conclusion that though the content is objectionable in parts, Galton’s contributions to making ideas popular through his writing are real, and worth commending. Within he criticizes some of Galtons prescriptions, including those against the over-creation of new scientific terms, which Fancher deems as essential to new science writing (Fancher, n.d.). b) Discussion A. Biography and General Discussion The impact of the work of Sir Francis Galton is said to be wide-ranging and profound, extending from eugenics and human genetics, of which he is recognized as one of the foremost pioneers, to travel writing and exploration, meteorology and the anticyclone, statistical formulations relating to correlation and regression, and biometrics. In the biometrics field he is recognized as the founding father, with his work on fingerprints, for instance, cited as one of the foundational, seminal texts on the science. It is noteworthy that the two phases of his career, one traveling and writing and the interest in meteorology to get a better grasp of the weather’s whims; and the other focusing on his work relating to selective breeding, which arose out of his intent focus on the work of Darwin entitled ‘The Origin of Species. Tied to his data analysis relating to this latter interest, Galton progressed into creating some of the statistical analyses that were necessary to make sense of the data, including correlation analysis and regression analysis. While astoundingly broad by contemporary scientific standards, the ability of scientists to venture into many fields was said to be something that was ordinary and accepted during the time of Galton’s life, which is tied to the Victorian era. Further examples of his brilliant work include those that are tied to his interests with the ideas proposed by Darwin in “The Origin of Species’, including his work on how fitness can be inherited, making use of human body measurements, twin/double studies, and pedigrees. He made use of mental imagery as a proxy of mental ability, taking off from the idea that intelligence and mental fitness had a correlation with the physical characteristics that allowed men to thrive. Mental imagery, as Galton practiced it, entailed making use of criteria to screen and analyze fingerprints, as well as photos of men from the criminal and military branches of society, and creating images that are composites of men that share the same socio-economic backgrounds for instance, or occupational class (Gillham, 2001, pp. 83-86). Francis Galton was born on February 16, 1822 and died on January 17, 1911, a few years after the publication of his last works ‘Memories of Life’ and ‘Essays in Eugenics’, and four years after the death of his wife Louisa Butler Galton in 1897. He was in Cambridge, at Trinity College, from 1840-1844, where he studied Mathematics, and had prior to that had education in medicine from 1838-1840. The death of his father in 1844 prompted Galton to abandon his medical studies, and the year after that, Galton went on to explore Africa in a life-altering move that had great impact on the future intellectual life of Galton. His journeys in Africa and the Far East precipitated his first works ‘Tropical South Africa’ and ‘The Art of Travel’, sandwiched between those being his marriage to Louisa Butler. Between 1855, when ‘The Art of Travel’ first appeared, to his death in 1911, the landmark events of Galton’s life were the publication of ‘Hereditary Genius’ in 1869; ‘English Men of Science: Their Nature and Nurture’ in 1874; ‘Inquiries Into Human Faculty and Its Development’ in 1883; ‘Natural Inheritance’ in 1889; and ‘Finger Prints’ in 1892’, plus the last two works immediately prior to his death in 1911, as discussed above (Bulmer, 2003, p. xiii). The influence of Darwin in Galton’s life was crucial in the development of the intellectual life of Galton. It was Darwin, for instance, who was able to sway the father of Galton to let Galton study mathematics at Cambridge, as a break from Galton’s medical studies. It was Darwin too, as Galton’s cousin, who exerted considerable influence on Galton in the latter part of Galton’s life, through his work ‘On the Origin of Species’, which propelled Galton into his own theorizing and scientific and technical work (Gillham, 2001, pp. 86-87). By way of example, His seminal work on heredity and genius was in full display and development by 1869, with the publication of ‘Hereditary Genius’, and an earlier work that appeared in MacMillan’s Magazine in 1865 already showed marked signs of the maturity of his theorizing (Galton, 1865). The main thesis of his work ‘Hereditary Genius’, meanwhile, was that the natural abilities that are possessed by individuals spring from inherited characteristics, again taking off from the lasting imprint of Darwin’s ideas on his own intellectual work (Galton, 1869). B. Fancher on Galton Fancher’s work on Galton extends to several key aspects of the life and work of the man. There are the works by Fancher on Galton relating to Galton’s ethnography during the time of Galton’s sojourns into Africa (Tredoux, 2004). There are the works by Fancher relating to the aspects of Galton’s work as literary and scientific stylist artifacts, to be studied as such rather than for just strictly for the science that it contains (Fancher, n.d.). There are also the aspects of the work of Fancher on Galton relating to Galton’s phrenology and the wide import of that work on vital aspects of the science (Fancher, n.d. (b); Fancher, 1993). Always, and as already discussed earlier, Fancher on Galton is largely about shedding light on the work of the man from the personal circumstances of Galton’s unique biography and psycho-social and emotional makeup (Tredoux, 2004). Fancher’s treatment of the literary elements of Galton’s scientific work, for instance, is one that reflects a dichotomy with regard to Fancher’s attitudes towards Galton’s work in general. As far as content is concerned, Fancher was largely critical of the work of Galton, and criticized the content on many different levels. As far as style and literary merits were concerned, on the other hand, Fancher was all praises, and in agreement with those who gave Galton literary distinction and ascension into the Royal Society of Literature in Britain. On the other hand, based on the standards of the modern era, Fancher makes the assertion that Galton’s work fails to make the literary and scientific form grade, when Galton for instance makes the statement relating to the limiting of the use of scientific terms in writing. This latter prescription, according to Fancher, goes against the impulse from scientists then and later to introduce new terms to describe what they were thinking and doing, and to expand the scientific vocabulary. This, meanwhile, does not take away from the very real contributions of Galton in this regard, according to Fancher, and that Galton is to be credited with giving birth to, and making popular, new ideas (Fancher, n.d.). There are aspects of the work by Fancher on Galton, meanwhile, that deal directly with the science and the theorizing in Galton’s work, including Fancher tracing the development of some of Galton’s key ideas in ‘Hereditary Genius’ to Galton’s exposure to and use of aspects of work relating to phrenology. Here, for instance, Fancher notes that while Galton, in his later life, made mincemeat of phrenology as a science and disowned it entirely, Galton actually had favorable earlier views of phrenology, and leveraged insights from phrenology to benefit Galton’s own work on heredity (Fancher, n.d. (b); Fancher, 1993). References Bulmer, M. (2003). Francis Galton: Pioneer of Heredity and Biometry. JHU Press. Retrieved from Google Books http://books.google.com Fancher, R. (n.d.). Francis Galton as a Literary and Scientific Stylist. York University. Retrieved from http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000129/00/galton_as_stylist.html Fancher, R. (n.d.(b)). Francis Galton and Phrenology. York University. Retrieved from http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000121/00/Galton_and_phrenology.html Fancher, R. (1993). Francis Galton and Phrenology. Proceedings Tennet !V. Retrieved from http://htpprints.yorku.ca/archive/00000121/00/Galton_and_phrenology.html Galton, F. (1865). Hereditary Talent and Character. MacMillan Magazine 12. Retrieved from http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Galton/talent.htm Galton, F. (1869). Hereditary Genius. MacMillan and Company. Retrieved from Google Books http://books.google.com Gillham, N. (2001). Sir Francis Galton and the Birth of Eugenics. Annual Review of Genetics 35. Retrieved from http://www.tc.umn.edu/~nydic001/docs/teaching/Fall2011_PSY3801H/readings/Readings%20-%2001Gillham%202001.pdf Tredoux, G. (2004). Fancher on Galton’s Ethnography. Galton.org. Retrieved from http://galton.org/reviews/FancherGaltonEthnography.htm WW Norton and Company (2012). Raymond E. Fancher. wwnorton.com. 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