Whatever Happened to the Cephalic Index? The Reality of Race and the Burden of Proof

John P. Jackson University of Colorado Boulder

Abstract

This article examines the work of anthropologist Franz Boas who, in the early twentieth century, argued against the existence of the stability of the cephalic index, a measure of head shape, and its relation to the mental and moral capacities of human races. The article claims that Boas successfully shifted the burden of proof to his opponents and set the stage for the scientific rejection of belief in innate racial differences in intelligence. The article urges rhetorical scholars to attend to the notions of burden of proof and presumption in scientific controversies over neurological differences.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2010-11-15
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2010.517233
CompPile
Search in CompPile ↗
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (2)

  1. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Rhetoric Society Quarterly

References (67) · 4 in this index

  1. 10.1177/0952695109352407
  2. The Retreat of Scientific Racism: Changing Concepts of Race in the Britain and the United…
  3. 10.1525/aa.1899.1.3.02a00020
  4. 10.1126/science.4.80.50
  5. 10.1126/science.29.752.839
Show all 67 →
  1. 10.1525/aa.1912.14.3.02a00080
  2. Changes in the Bodily Form of Descendants of Immigrants
  3. Half a Man: The Status of the Negro in New York
  4. Materials for the Study of Inheritance in Man
  5. The Mind of Primitive Man
  6. The Measure of Merit: Talents, Intelligence, and Inequality in the French and American Re…
  7. Nineteenth-Century Origins of Neuroscientific Concepts
  8. 10.1111/j.2041-6962.2008.tb00082.x
  9. In Search of Human Nature: The Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought
  10. Darwin's Sacred Cause: How a Hatred of Slavery Shaped Darwin's Views on Human Evolution
  11. Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  12. Contemporary Review
  13. Burdens of Proof in Modern Discourse
  14. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society
  15. Goodnight , G. Thomas . “The Liberal and the Conservative Presumptions: On Political Philosophy and the Found…
  16. 10.1080/00028533.2005.11821636
    Argumentation & Advocacy  
  17. Race: The History of an Idea in America
  18. The Passing of the Great Race or the Racial Basis of European History
  19. 10.1525/aa.2003.105.1.125
  20. Argumentation
  21. The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism, and Anthropology in France
  22. 10.1353/jhi.2000.0018
  23. 10.1073/pnas.242622399
  24. Up from the Ape
  25. World-Power and Evolution
  26. Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race
  27. 10.17763/haer.39.1.l3u15956627424k7
    Harvard Educational Review  
  28. 10.1086/250475
  29. Eugenics: A Reassessment
  30. The Science of Human Diversity: A History of the Pioneer Fund
  31. 10.1080/00335639409384072
  32. 10.1080/10570319909374657
  33. Heredity and Humanity: Race, Eugenics and Modern Science
  34. The New Rhetoric: A Treatise on Argumentation [Traité de l'argumentation. English]
  35. Value Free Science? Purity and Power in Modern Knowledge
  36. 10.1126/science.182.4114.790
  37. 10.1525/aa.1911.13.3.02a00030
  38. “Race”, Racism, and Psychology: Towards a Reflexive History
  39. 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6696(199824)34:1<15::AID-JHBS2>3.0.CO;2-I
  40. The Races of Europe: A Sociological Study
  41. The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class
  42. Race, Evolution, and Behavior: A Life History Perspective
  43. Albany Law Review
  44. 10.1037/1076-8971.11.2.235
  45. 10.1002/1520-6696(197807)14:3<265::AID-JHBS2300140313>3.0.CO;2-P
  46. 10.1080/10510976709362856
  47. Race in North America: Origin and Evolution of a Worldview.
  48. Being Human: Historical Knowledge and the Creation of Human Nature
  49. 10.1073/pnas.222389599
  50. Defending the Master Race: Conservation, Eugenics, and the Legacy of Madison Grant
  51. 10.1080/03637757609375922
  52. Race, Culture, and Evolution: Essays in the History of Anthropology
  53. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  54. Uses of Argument
  55. Argumentation
  56. American Philosophical Quarterly
  57. A Pragmatic Theory of Fallacy
  58. 10.1037/h0078934
  59. Elements of Rhetoric.
  60. Historic Doubts Relative to Napolean Bonoparte.
  61. Zarefsky , David . “Argumentation in the Tradition of Speech Communication Studies.” InPerspectives and Appro…
  62. 10.1353/rap.2007.0043