I think you misunderstand me. Jared Diamond is a serious academic in good standing. I did not say he was an ideologue. Apparently, Professor Diamond has a doctorate in physiology, but is currently described as a professor of geography. He is not a professional historian. In any case, the discipline of History is noble, but it is not always described as a social science at all.
But both Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse are pop sci, not that there’s anything wrong with that. They were marketed to an audience of intelligent nonexperts. They were never intended to be serious peer-reviewed academic studies.
So that’s three strikes against these works as bringing rigor to social science.
Again, this is not an attack on Professor Diamond at all. Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was pop sci, and was wonderful. Richard Dawkins has written some great pop sci. So have E.O. Wilson, and Stephen Hawking etc. etc. But their serious academic work is much more dense and technical, and was addressed to a far more narrow and critical audience. Rigourous works never, ever make it to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
Iif you want a criticism of pop sci in general, it is that it might be used as an end-run to avoid peer review. An unscrupulous academic might use his or her credentials to dazzle the public into metaphorically buying snake oil, maybe for the sake of celebrity and money. Beware of Stephen Jay Gould .
However, I think Guns, Germs, and Steel might be about as rigorous as that era of history can ever get. I’ve never encountered any historical arguments which cover such an unknown time period with such breadth and depth. If he were to increase the rigor of his arguments, we’d lose any chance at an overall picture.
Just because the books are accessible to the masses doesn’t mean that the books aren’t rigorous, which is what you almost seem to be implying with your above comment. Certainly, they’re not perfectly scientific and can’t be readily tested. But that can never happen in these fields, and the goal is only to move towards science as an ideal. You say that they weren’t intended to be peer reviewed, but I guess I’m sort of confused as to why you believe that. There’s nothing precluding experts from reviewing Diamond’s findings, as far as I can see.
Regardless, there are some really really really bad social science arguments out there. If the average social science argument, or even some of the best social science arguments, reached a level of rigor and excellence comparable to Guns, Germs, and Steel then the field would be improved a hundred fold. Maybe this means that I’ve got pathetic standards for what constitutes rigor, but I prefer to think that I’m being realistic, as I think improving IR and economics to even this level of rigor is already a near impossible task.
I think you misunderstand me. Jared Diamond is a serious academic in good standing. I did not say he was an ideologue. Apparently, Professor Diamond has a doctorate in physiology, but is currently described as a professor of geography. He is not a professional historian. In any case, the discipline of History is noble, but it is not always described as a social science at all.
But both Guns, Germs, and Steel and Collapse are pop sci, not that there’s anything wrong with that. They were marketed to an audience of intelligent nonexperts. They were never intended to be serious peer-reviewed academic studies.
So that’s three strikes against these works as bringing rigor to social science.
Again, this is not an attack on Professor Diamond at all. Carl Sagan’s Cosmos was pop sci, and was wonderful. Richard Dawkins has written some great pop sci. So have E.O. Wilson, and Stephen Hawking etc. etc. But their serious academic work is much more dense and technical, and was addressed to a far more narrow and critical audience. Rigourous works never, ever make it to the top of the New York Times bestseller list.
Iif you want a criticism of pop sci in general, it is that it might be used as an end-run to avoid peer review. An unscrupulous academic might use his or her credentials to dazzle the public into metaphorically buying snake oil, maybe for the sake of celebrity and money. Beware of Stephen Jay Gould .
I misunderstood you earlier, yes.
However, I think Guns, Germs, and Steel might be about as rigorous as that era of history can ever get. I’ve never encountered any historical arguments which cover such an unknown time period with such breadth and depth. If he were to increase the rigor of his arguments, we’d lose any chance at an overall picture.
Just because the books are accessible to the masses doesn’t mean that the books aren’t rigorous, which is what you almost seem to be implying with your above comment. Certainly, they’re not perfectly scientific and can’t be readily tested. But that can never happen in these fields, and the goal is only to move towards science as an ideal. You say that they weren’t intended to be peer reviewed, but I guess I’m sort of confused as to why you believe that. There’s nothing precluding experts from reviewing Diamond’s findings, as far as I can see.
Regardless, there are some really really really bad social science arguments out there. If the average social science argument, or even some of the best social science arguments, reached a level of rigor and excellence comparable to Guns, Germs, and Steel then the field would be improved a hundred fold. Maybe this means that I’ve got pathetic standards for what constitutes rigor, but I prefer to think that I’m being realistic, as I think improving IR and economics to even this level of rigor is already a near impossible task.