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“The Influence of Ideology on Scientific Research”
Presented by Catherine Francis

This week’s topic was inspired by an article in the July/August 2023 edition of Skeptical Inquirer by Jerry A Coyne and Luana S Maroja entitled “The Ideological Subversion of Biology”, as well as an accompanying webinar.

Jerry Coyne is a prominent evolutionary biologist and anti-theist who has written several books on these subjects including “Why Evolution is True” and “Faith versus Fact”. Luana Maroja is a biology professor with a Ph.D. From Cornell University.

In their recent paper and presentation, Coyne and Maroja specifically focus on six examples where, in their opinion, biology has been impeded or misrepresented by ideology, with potentially disastrous consequences.

1.  Sex in humans is not a discrete and binary distribution of males and females but a spectrum.

2. All behavioral and psychological differences between human males and human females are due to socialization.

3. Evolutionary psychology, the study of the evolutionary roots of human behaviour, is a bogus field based on false assumptions.

4. We should avoid studying genetic differences in behaviour between individuals.

5. Race and ethnicity are social constructs, without scientific or biological meaning.

6. Indigenous “ways of knowing” are equivalent to modern science and should be taught and recognized as such.

As is made clear from the presentation, the topics are so “radioactive” that the authors turned to Skeptical Inquirer rather than traditional academic journals to publish their findings. They don’t mince words, referring to the “grave threat”, the “poisoning” of biology and the “muzzling” of scientists.

For an informed discussion it is highly recommended that everyone either read the article or watch the webinar (or both).

A few basic discussion questions:

1. Do you agree with the authors’ examples and conclusions?
2. Why or why not?
3. Should scientists be studying these issues?
4. What are some of the threats posed by the suppression of scientific research?
5. Are there legitimate reasons to suppress scientific research in certain areas?