44 THE MISMEASURE OF MAN
case. Since the chosen style is largely a matter of researcher's prefer-
ence, one cannot claim that principal components have empirical
reality (unless the argument can be backed up with hard data of
another sort; the mathematical evidence alone will never suffice,
because we can always generate alternative axes with entirely differ-
ent meanings).
There can only be a few such moments—the eurekas, the scales
dropping from the eyes—in a scholar's life. My precious abstraction,
the technique powering my own research at the time, had not been
developed to analyze fossils, or to pursue the idealized pleasure
of mathematics. Spearman had invented factor analysis to push a
certain interpretation of mental tests—one that has plagued our
century with its biodeterminist implications. (I am confident about
the order of causality because Spearman had been defending the
theory of unitary intelligence for years with other nonmultivariate
techniques before he invented factor analysis. Thus we know that
he developed factor analysis to support the theory—and that the
theory did not arise subsequently from thoughts inspired by the first
results of factor analysis.) A frisson of mixed fascination and a bit
of anger passed up and down my spine, as much of my previous
idealization of science collapsed (ultimately to be replaced by a far
more humane and sensible view). Factor analysis had been invented
for a social use contrary to my beliefs and values.
I felt personally offended, and this book, though not written
until some ten years later, ultimately arose from this insight and
feeling of violation. I felt compelled to write The Mismeasure of Man.
My favorite research tool had arisen for an alien social use. Further-
more, and in another irony, the harmful hereditarian version of IQ
had not developed in Europe, where Binet had invented the test for
benevolent purposes, but in my own country of America, honored
for egalitarian traditions. I am a patriot at heart. I had to write the
book to make correction and ask for understanding.
- History and revision
I published The Mismeasure of Man in 1981; the book has certainly
had an active and fascinating history ever since. I was proud when
Mismeasure won the National Book Critics Circle award in nonfic-
tion, for this prize is the professional's accolade, given by those who
do the reviewing. The reviews themselves followed an interesting
