In article <378C1152.FC30AABC at gruver.net>,
eric at MAIL.GRUVER.NET (eric) wrote:
> "F. Frank LeFever" wrote:
> > Hmmmm... X-File stuff?? Just a day or so ago, I used the word "reify"
> > in a message posted to one of these newsgroups (perhaps THIS one), and
> > now the Mastermind Martyr uses it. Co-in-ci-dence??? We don't THINK
> > so!
>> Hmmm. I figured reify must be a made up word. Now I have to go find
> a dictionary (mine are all in storage 600 miles away).
>>
Reify is a bona-fide word. Stephen Gould discusses the fallacy known as
reification in his book _The Mismeasure of Man_. His use of the term was in
the context of hereditarian biases being affixed to IQ tests (eg- the Binet
test). It wasn't Binet's use of the test that Gould criticized, but
subsequent misuse by others as a means of ranking races or classes of people.
Gould also covers the abstraction known as g, a reflection of supposed
unitary intelligence.
Hmmmm..., I read Gould's book last week and people are using the term reify
this week. This must be a coincidence :-)
--
Scott Chase
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