A Positive Conclusion Summary and Analysis

Gould feels that he has followed Walt Whitman's advice regarding negatives and using them as much as possible. Gould has done this is exposing the errors involved in biological determinism and what did the various scientists do that was wrong. Most of the errors are the result of prejudice. Gould sees his efforts as positive. Finding the errors and pointing them out is a part of positive science. The unilinear rankings are a form of racial ranking and many results from racial prejudice. "Scientists do not debunk only to cleanse and purge. They refute older ideas in the light of a different view about the nature of things" (Chapter 7, pg. 352).

Another reasons that Gould thinks that his book is valuable is because there is a learning valued involved in debunking theory. This doesn't mean to replace one...