Sins of the cognitive elite - intelligence and morality - 'The Bell Curve': A Symposium - Cover Story

National Review, Dec 5, 1994 by Michael Novak

Ordinary experience teaches one, paradoxically, that persons of low IQ are often happier than persons of high IQ. For one thing, they don't perceive all the differences and distinctions that the more intelligent perceive. Thus, they overlook some dangers and ambiguities, often to the benefit of their peace of mind if not their permanent safety. For another thing, they tend not to be quite so introspective; few spend a lot of time analyzing the movements of their psyches. Quite subtly, in fact, Herrnstein and Murray suggest a point most reviewers are ignoring: high IQ is often its own punishment.

Perhaps not coincidentally, since about 1950 the cultural elite has aggressively propagated what Lionel Trilling called "an adversary culture." Many things that earlier generations of Americans considered to be evil, the cultural elite now celebrates as good, and vice versa. We are in the grip of cultural warfare.

It is difficult enough for those of high IQ to know what to do, to discern the good to pursue and the evil to avoid. For those with less intelligence, chance and contingency are bound to play an even more powerful role. If they fall into good company, they are very lucky; if into bad, they may make a single mistake from which they will never recover. Those with fewer chances in life have much more to lose with every chance they bobble. In brief, Herrnstein and Murray accuse our society of failing those of lower IQ, most of all in the moral arena.

Besides being a reliable report on the state of psychological knowledge, the Herrnstein--Murray work is also, implicitly but unmistakably, a moral tract. Herrnstein and Murray show a far greater degree of empathy and concern for those of lower IQ than most readers will ever have encountered. They also diagnose much more clearly what those of lower IQ need, if they are to attain greater success in life and a higher degree of personal satisfaction. They diagnose, above all, how they are being betrayed by the cognitive elite.

Murray and Herrnstein have pointed an accusing finger at the cognitive elite, said publicly who they are, and diagnosed both the nature and the cause of their current intellectual and moral failures. Many in the cognitive elite are not taking this criticism well.