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lunes, mayo 30, 2011

Esfuerzo, herencia biológica y justicia

Generalmente se acepta que cada quien construye su propio destino, producto del esfuerzo y de la preparación, no obstante, somos bien conscientes de la existencia de distintos grados de inteligencia entre los seres humanos. Esto incorpora al análisis sobre la suerte de las personas un componente que poco tiene que ver con la disciplina, sino más bien con una herencia biológica, que debe agregarse a factores sociológicos, como la influencia del lugar en donde hemos nacido, las condiciones del entorno familiar, etcétera.:
it's pretty easy to fool ourselves into dismissing the benefits of being raised in a rich, stable culture and assuming that everything we've accomplished has actually been the result of hard work and personal rectitude. But what if you believe, say, that (a) IQ has a strong biological component and (b) high IQ is really important for getting ahead in the world? If you believe this and also happen to be blessed with a high IQ, how can you possibly convince yourself that this is anything other than the blind luck of the genetic lottery? Well, I suppose people can convince themselves of just about anything. And certainly a smart person who works hard is likely to do better than a smart person who sits on the couch all day playing videogames.
Kevin Drum, al reflexionar  sobre un artículo de Kevin Smith, sugiere que hay un elemento de moralidad para sostener que los más inteligentes y ricos deben establecer una especie de mecanismo de compensación en favor de los más pobres y desfavorecidos, en la medida que esto se deba a la diversidad de coeficiente intelectual atribuible a la fortuna:
Still, to the extent that you really do believe that cognitive abilities are (a) important, and (b) strongly biologically determined, shouldn't you also believe that the poor are more unlucky than anything else, and haven't done anything to deserve hunger, lousy housing, poor medical care, or crappy educations? If genetic luck plays a big role in making us who we are, then support for income redistribution from the rich to the poor is almost a logical necessity for anyone with a moral sense more highly developed than a five-year-old's.
Si así fuere, el reto sería cómo implementar tal mecanismo sin alimentar un exceso de paternalismo gubernamental y una cultura de conformismo.

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