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Yes my impression / recollection is that the debate about race and IQ was won fair and square the old fashioned way, with reason and evidence. With special mention to Stephen Jay Gould for 'The Mismeasure of Man' but clear Wilson and Gould were absolutely in academic debate.
Well, Wilson & Gould were in an academic debate, but Wilson told me he had protestors in his lectures for a time after the controversy arose. So I think it was a mixed picture, but agree not systematic as today.
Well throwing cold water over him described in Wikipedia link above, well out of order! But the same Wikipedia entry describes Gould and Wilson being part of the same research group and Gould condemning such attacks. So not violating foundational HE values of reason and argument.
I lunched with him at Harvard once (I interviewed him for a book I did), so I chatted with him about this stuff. Things were very uncomfortable for him for a while. My view is that the shenanigans were certainly on the edge of violating foundational values of reason & argument.
So, for example, the American Anthropological Association debated a motion to censure Sociobiology on the grounds that it was an attempt to justify the elitist, sexist and racist status quo (it clearly wasn't that - most of it wasn't about humans at all!).
Gould & Lewontin talked about gas chambers when discussing Sociobiology. Okay, they didn't quite say that Wilson was justifying gas chambers, but even so.... Time magazine at the time stated that the reaction to Wilson was a bit like the denunciation of Galileo.
For what it's worth (which isn't much), I interviewed him a couple of times (for 2 books, What Philosophers Think & What Scientists Think), and wrote about this stuff in Why Truth Matters (which I authored with Ophelia Benson). There's much more detail there.
Thanks for sharing the book references, I'm sorry I didn't realise your experience was rather more first hand than mine!
No apology necessary at all. Plus, to be honest, my first hand experience probably means I'm biased in Wilson's favor. He was extremely kind and charming (he'd bought me sandwiches & a coke on his way into Harvard, that sort of thing).
I'm firmly on the Gould side, but I think we can agree throwing things at professors is absolutely unacceptable. Suggests a lack of confidence of the hurlers in their capacity to make convincing arguments to the contrary. I'm sure I'm often wrong, but ready to engage and learn.
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