Hiram Caton 3881524 224155635 2008-07-07T15:58:05Z Demophon 1837101 '''Hiram Caton''' (born 1936) was Professor of Politics & History at [[Griffith University]], [[Brisbane, Australia]] until his retirement. He is an [[ethics|ethicist]] and [[AIDS denialist]]<ref>[http://www.aidsinfobbs.org/apostates.html AIDS Info BBS database - Anthony Brink on The AIDS Apostates<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, a [[Fellow]] of the [[Australian Institute of Biology]]<ref>[http://www.aibiol.org.au/ Australian Institute of Biology]</ref> (since 1994)<ref>[http://www.virusmyth.net/aids/index/hcatton.htm HIV & AIDS - Hiram Caton<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>, an officer of the [[International Society for Human Ethology]]<ref>[http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/ishe/ International Society for Human Ethology]</ref>, and a founding member of the [[Association for Politics and the Life Sciences]]<ref>[http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/ishe/ International Society for Human Ethology]</ref>. He held a National Humanities Fellowship at the [[National Humanities Center]] in 1982-83<ref>[http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/fellowships/ffellows1.htm Fellows of the National Humanities Center, A-G<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. He was the inaugural Professor of Humanities at [[Griffith University]] in [[Brisbane]], and later the Professor of Politics and History<ref>[http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/author/C/Hiram_-_Caton.aspx Hiram Caton — www.greenwood.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> and Head of the School of Applied Ethics<ref>[http://www.duesberg.com/media/nhconspiracy.html Duesberg on AIDS- Conspiracy of Silence<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> there. ==Education== Caton studied at the [[University of Chicago]] and received a [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] degree from [[Yale]] with an (earned) [[Doctor of Letters|D.Litt]] degree for his work in modern history<ref>[http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/ishe/about%20us/officers/caton.html Hiram Caton<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>. ==Research== Caton's work has been concerned with ethics in the sciences (particularly in life sciences and medicine), the history of ideas, and on biological bases for individual, social, and political behaviour. Something of a polymath, he has published some 175 articles, across six or seven fields--medical ethics and bioethics, human ethology, modern political and economic history, anthropology (with special attention to the Freeman-Mead controversy), philosophy (with emphasis on rationalism and positivism), crowd studies, identity psychology, and problems of the integration of biological/evolutionary factors into the social sciences, especially political science. He achieved notoriety as an [[AIDS denialist]] in the mid 1990s for his book ''The AIDS Mirage'' (1994), in which he charged [[Donald Francis]] with "inventing a viral epidemic" in 1982 at the [[Centers for Disease Control]]. However, his most significant book has been ''The Politics of Progress: The Origins and Development of the Commercial Republic, 1600-1835'' in which he explores what he considers to be the political forces surrounding the application of technology to subduing nature. Modern science, he argues, was born more from these political forces than from the ideological ones (such as the Protestant Reformation) that he feels are more usually credited with it. The book was reviewed in more than 20 professional journals. Some reviewers stressed that it set forth a new interpretation of what drove the creation of capitalism, partly by tapping little-known historical sources. In it, Caton attributes the key phase<!-- key phase of...? --> to events and leaders in France, the Netherlands, and England in the 1650-1700 period. It offers interpretations of the French Revolution, of the founding of the United States of America, of [[Adam Smith]]'s ''[[Wealth of Nations]]'', and of the origin of the legend of wicked capitalism. Caton argues that Smith's conception of economics was pre-industrial (it failed to recognize that industrial technology had become a commodity) and states that the wicked capitalism legend was created in the 1820-1840 period by a clique of factory owners. In the book, Caton rejects the belief that the human species is evolving to a higher type. In ''The Origin of Subjectivity: An Essay on Descartes'', Caton argues that [[Descartes]] based his epistemology on optics ('optical epistemology'); and that he used his metaphysics 'as a flag to cover the goods'-- a rationalist philosophy dedicated to the 'the mastery and possession of nature'. Caton's publications on [[Margaret Mead]], [[Derek Freeman]], and [[Coming of Age in Samoa|the Samoa controversy]] are part of the standard literature.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} His edited volume, ''The Samoa Reader: Anthropologists Take Stock'', remains the one comprehensive reader on the subject.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} Among his contributions to the volume are two studies on Freeman's psychology. They were featured in 2005 in a lead article in the ''Chronicle of Higher Education''.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} Also in 2005, Caton was a consultant to the [[BBC]] for its documentary on the Freeman-Mead controversy, ''Tales from the Jungle''. His current work focuses on [[Charles Darwin]]. As an officer of the International Society of Human Ethology, he is working to integrate the Society into the web of activities celebrating the bicentenary of Darwin's birth ([[2009]]).{{Fact|date=July 2008}} Caton also recently published a reinterpretation of Darwin's contribution to the establishment of evolution.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} He has also devised a new interpretation of Darwin's famous illness, which he presented at the ISHE conference in Detroit, August 2006. This research is to be included in in ''The Darwin Legend''.{{Fact|date=July 2008}} ==Publications== * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = The Origin of Subjectivity | publisher = Yale University Press | location = New Haven | year = 1973 | isbn = 0300015690 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = A Bibliography of Biosocial Science | publisher = School of Australian Environmental Studies, Griffith University | location = Brisbane | year = 1984 | isbn = 0868571938 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = Feminism and the Family | publisher = Council for a Free Australia | location = Cleveland, Qld | year = 1985 | isbn = 0958883300 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = The Assault on the Family : Its Aims and Basis| publisher = Council for a Free Australia | location = Cleveland, Qld | year = 1986 | isbn = 0958834318 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = The Humanist Experiment : Superman from the Test Tube | publisher = Council for a Free Australia | location = Cleveland, Qld | year = 1986 | isbn = 095883430X }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = Scientists Advocate Policy : In Vitro Fertilization in Australia | publisher = Americans United for Life, Legal Defense Fund | location = Chicago | year = 1988 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = The Politics of Progress: The Origins and Development of the Commercial Republic, 1600-1835 | publisher = University of Florida Press | location = Gainesville | year = 1988 | isbn = 0813008476 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = The Samoa Reader | publisher = University Press of America | location = Washington | year = 1990 | isbn = 0819177202 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = Trends in Biomedical Regulation | publisher = Butterworths | location = London | year = 1990 | isbn = 0409490725 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | coauthors = Frank K Salter; J van der Dennen | title = The Bibliography of Human Behavior | publisher = Greenwood Press | location = Westport | year = 1993 | isbn = 0313278970 }} * {{cite book | last = Caton | first = Hiram | title = The Aids Mirage | publisher = University of New South Wales Press | location = Sydney | year = 1994 | isbn = 0868403423 }} etext available [http://www.users.bigpond.com/smartboard/aids/ here] ==External links== * [http://www.grumpyoldeman.com GrumpyOldeMan - The Hiram Caton Homepage] * [http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/author.asp?id=4047 Biography] * [http://evolution.anthro.univie.ac.at/ishe/about%20us/officers/caton.html Biography] ==References== <references/> ===Reviews of ''The Politics of Progress''=== * {{cite journal | last = Coleman | first = William | year = 1991 | month = July | title = [untitled review] | journal = Southern Economic Journal | volume = 58 | issue = 1 | pages = 282–3 }} * {{cite journal | last = Eden | first = Robert | year = 1989 | month = Winter | title = Modern Republicanism and the American Founding, 1600-1789 | journal = Polity | volume = 22 | issue = 2 | pages = 367–76 | doi = 10.2307/3234840 }} * {{cite journal | last = Egnal | first = Marc | year = 1989 | month = September | title = [untitled review] | journal = The Journal of Economic History | volume = 49 | issue = 3 | pages = 759–60 }} * {{cite journal | last = Jacob | first = Margaret C. | year = 1991 | month = February | title = [untitled review] | journal = The American Historical Review | volume = 96 | issue = 1 | pages = 131–2 }} * {{cite journal | last = Matson | first = Cathy | year = 1989 | month = Autumn | title = [untitled review] | journal = Journal of the Early Republic | volume = 9 | issue = 3 | pages = 383–5 }} * {{cite journal | last = Minogue | first = Kenneth | year = 1991 | month = Spring | title = [untitled review] | journal = Policy }} * {{cite journal | last = Narrett | first = David E | year = 1989 | month = Autumn | title = [untitled review] | journal = The Business History Review | volume = 63 | issue = 3 | pages = 662–4 }} * {{cite journal | last = Richardson Jr. | first = Robert D. | year = 1990 | month = October | title = [untitled review] | journal = History and Theory | volume = 29 | issue = 3 | pages = 375–83 }} * {{cite journal | last = Schaeffer | first = David Lewis | year = 1990 | month = Winter | title = [untitled review] | journal = Review of Politics | volume = 52 | issue = 1 | pages = 131–5 }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Caton, Hiram}} [[Category:AIDS denialism]] [[Category:Australian non-fiction writers]] [[Category:1936 births]] [[Category:Living people]]