Talk:Stephen Jay Gould

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Gould's political views

I cited some comments by Gould and colleagues stating that he was a Marxist; @Generalrelative undid my edit as redundant. I would question this - the current page nowhere describes Gould as a Marxist, and indeed strongly implies that he was not, by contrasting him with his father. Is this not worth mentioning? Tamunro (talk) 14:28, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

The sources state that Gould explicitly denied being a Marxist. Generalrelative (talk) 18:50, 10 November 2024 (UTC)

Can you point to a quote in which Gould explicitly denied being a Marxist?

The closest quote I can find in the current article and its sources is taken from this sentence:

"I said nothing about my political beliefs (very different from my father’s, by the way, and a private matter that I do not choose to discuss in this forum)"

Far from an explicit denial of being a Marxist, this is one of his many explicit refusals to state his political beliefs. Nor is it implicit, either: almost all Marxists would say their beliefs are "very different" than Stalin's, for example. He likewise avoids clearly stating his beliefs in the deposition quoted.

His actions indicate that he was indeed a Marxist:

"He was on the advisory boards of the academic journal Rethinking Marxism and the Manhattan-based Brecht Forum. The latter is the sponsor of the New York Marxist School ... where Gould sometimes spoke. Gould was also a speaker at ... a forum on The Future of the Left to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto in 1998."

I think a fair summary for the purposes of the article would be that he didn't publicly confirm or deny being a Marxist, but Marxist friends and colleagues described him as one, and that he donated his time to Marxist organizations. Tamunro (talk) 20:46, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Your claim that Template:Tq is WP:SYNTH. Someone could have some important points of agreement with a Marxist organization, be willing to speak to a Marxist organization, even be connected with a Marxist journal, and (especially if he's a prominent person like Gould) Marxists could want to claim him as one of their own based on his friendliness to them - all without his being a Marxist. Just as someone can work closely with the Democrats in opposing Trump and speak to Democratic Party gatherings about it without being a Democrat. My impression from hearing Gould speak and reading his books was that he's not a Marxist. But that's just my opinion, which is as irrelevant here as is Tamunro's opinion on the matter. NightHeron (talk) 22:17, 17 November 2024 (UTC)

Template:Tq Template:Talkquote [1] Generalrelative (talk) 05:35, 18 November 2024 (UTC)

Gould was not a Marxist. He didn't like to talk about his personal life, but when he did, he mentioned that it hurt his father deeply when he abandoned the Marxism of his adolescent years. When the USSR collapsed, years after his father passed away, Gould recalled that he got some comfort knowing his father wasn't alive to see it. And Gould always spoke positively and glowingly about Bill Clinton, who famously moved the Democratic party to the right and towards neo-liberalism. After Gould's death his widow RRS also repudiated the Marxism/communism ad hominem allegations. And more importantly Gould did not identify himself with that label, and that should be (and should have been) the end of it. Cesaravi (talk) 04:48, 17 January 2025 (UTC)

Baseball

There should be, I think, a reference here to Mr. Gould's participation in Ken Burns' documentary Baseball. 162.202.72.43 (talk) 18:49, 5 March 2025 (UTC)