ABSTRACT
Almost without exception, those people who write or speak about the relationship between genetics and human traits want to deny that they support “genetic determinism.” However, this denial is often made against a background of deep confidence in the importance of genetic research for understanding and controlling those traits that matter to us. This confidence sometimes results in researchers saying and writing things that, at least on the face of it, certainly seem to support various theses that have a deterministic ring to them. Much of this book is concerned with very specific claims, such as those about the relationship between particular research projects and social issues. But those specific claims emerge out of a background of faith in the relative importance of genetics and the relative lack of importance of the environment in explaining variations in traits that matter to us. Revealing this background, I hope, will help make clear the assumptions that lie behind the claims made by those researchers discussed in later chapters.
