Paul Krugman explains that the reason that there aren’t more conservative scientists is because they are skeptical of evolution (a caricature, as Orin notes, of course, but accept it for a moment), whereas the left believes in evolution. “Thirty years ago, attacks on science came mostly from the left; these days, they come overwhelmingly form the right, and have the backing of leading Republicans.”
Yet when Lawrence Summers invokes evolutionary theory as a hypothesis to explain sex differences with respect to the performance of female scientists, he was pilloried–by the left.
I’m getting a bit of a headache here trying to keep track of the rules on when it is or is not appropriate to invoke evolutionary theories in the modern academy. Is there a flowchart or scorecard or something to which I can refer when in doubt?
Incidentally, my impression is that contra Krugman, most of those who are consistent evolutionary analysts tend to be libertarians and conservatives (often Hayek-influenced).
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