Introduction Summary and Analysis

The book opens with Gould discussing Socrates' Republic and the fact that the people should be educated and that they belong to either the rulers, auxiliaries or craftsmen class. In this manner, society will remain stable. When asked how to get the people to accept the class that they are assigned to, Socrates says it is all determined before they are born. His friend tells him that it is a lie and that the present generation won't believe it but future generations might. "The same tale, in different versions, has been promulgated and believed every since. The justification for ranking groups by inborn worth has varied with the tides of western history. Plato relied upon dialectic, the Church upon dogma. For the past two centuries, scientific claims have become the primary agent for validating Plato's myth" (Chapter 1, pg. 52). Thus begins the...