![]() | This article was nominated for deletion on 12 March 2007. The result of the discussion was Keep. |
Racial memory, genetic memory, collective unconscious, and morphic resonance are similar (but not necessarily the same) concepts). This article is in need of some referent or source citations, as noted therein.
Some scientific research in the field has yielded evidence re: genetic memory. I will supply some examples when I can get to it. --Blainster 21:51, 26 May 2005 (UTC)
I am adding an NPOV tag to this article because I'm not seeing much scientific skepticism. So far, there are a lot of weasel terms like "it has been hypothesized" and not a lot of actual, reliable references as far as the pro-racial-memory arguments go. The POV that racial memory may be pseudoscientific is given only a cursory "this hasn't been scientifically proven" for representation. We should look for some articles that attempt to debunk racial memory and add that POV with references because, as it is, the article does not adequately convey that the theory of genetic or racial memory is controversial. --InformationalAnarchist 7 July 2005 16:41 (UTC)
Inspired by the discussion on 'weaselspeak' I added 'scientology'...the ultimate in tenuous logic (yes i know its a religion...and non have proof. I'm not being POV here) Pydos 15:44, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
I think we should add Race Memory to 'racial Memory' assuming we can make this NPOV. Informationalanarchist has a point here about how it how it fails to show just how controversial the theory is - perhaps after the merge that could be resolved. Pydos 09:51, 12 August 2005 (UTC)
Consider, Jungians argue, an individual with a fear of heights. Racial memory would suggest that perhaps this individual's genetic ancestors met a dastardly fate due to a fall; ergo, this "racial memory" of the danger of heights causes the individual to fear them.
Um...unless I'm missing something, how would an individual who met a "dastardly fate" (ignoring the question of how falling to one's death is treacherous or cowardly) manage to have any descendants? Isn't there a better example than this? RJCraig 07:03, 27 December 2005 (UTC)
So, does anyone which of Jung's work discusses racial memory. I'd like to give it a read. This article explains the idea using a Darwinian evolutionary model, which I don't think is correct. (That is to say that my understanding is that Racial Memory is non-Darwinian by nature, not that I think that Darwinian evolution is an incorrect concept.)
--Dwcsite 19:49, 13 July 2006 (UTC)
Wouldn't the "Hypothetical biological explanations" section be better placed under "Genetic Memory"? How about adding a section entitled "(Purported) Examples" to collect/list the phenomena which are cited in support of the idea? (Or would the use of "purported" be POV?) The more I read this, the worse it seems; is a total rewrite out of the question? (Unfortunately, I am neither a genetic biologist or psychologist.) RJCraig 05:29, 2 January 2006 (UTC)
~ Maybe "Hypothetical causal mechanisms" since there is no scientifically validated mechanism that would explain the causation required by this, or any other lamarkian evolutionary process. --Dwcsite 21:23, 25 April 2006 (UTC)
"others have claimed to have observed the action of genetic memory in the behaviors of chimpanzees and bonobos who have demonstrated the abilities of their ancestors (such as using a rock to open nuts) even when isolated from them without the opportunity for direct learning."
This seems to similar to to this hoax. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundredth_Monkey
Added a more skeptical tone to this article by putting in the appropriate references to Lamarckism. I've added the "merge with Lamarckism" tag at the top of the page because I think it's important to note that this is merely a new age pseudoscience rebranding of something that's already been largely (though not fully) discredited in science.
Coricus 10:57, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
Just thought I'd drop a note to say that I removed the word "discredited" from the first paragraph because it seems largely redundant (given that the following paragraphs describe how it is discredited) and slightly POV (the emphasis that it gives is very perjorative). Good luck with the rest of the article. --84.64.93.157 10:55, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
This itself is controversial. One can argue that Michael Lewontin has proven that there is no such thing as 'race' or biological sub-species in modern living humans. There is not enough genetic variation to speak of subspecies.
If they are 'ancestral memories', why call them 'race memories'? That seems very archaic.
The science fiction section is maybe sort of entertaining but not of much relevance to an encyclopedia article about a nonfiction subject. How about squishing it down to a sentence or so, just saying that the theme has appeared in some fictional works. 67.117.130.181 00:19, 14 February 2007 (UTC)
I've gone ahead and put it in a separate article. - MrArt 06:49, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
... states very clearly that he was uncomfortably enthusiastically in bed with the Nazis until 1944. He explained his involvement away with "only did it to preserve psychoanalysis during the 3rd Reich", but not many critics believed him. Therefore, having a Racial based theory sold on Wikipedia as suitable for human consumption based on Jung's (of all people) work makes my skin crawl. Guess Wikipedia would be better off if the article would have been deleted or merged into Jung's main article. HagenUK 20:37, 19 March 2007 (UTC)