I Mary Midgley sin bok «What is philosophy for?» er det et lite avsnitt om IQ jeg tenkte jeg ville dele. Ellers er boka lettlest, og argumenterer godt for at filosofi er viktigere enn noen gang. Her er det hun skriver om IQ (s. 142):
… the word «intelligence» does not name a single measurable property, like «temperature» or «weight». It is a general term like «usefulness» og «rarity». And general terms always need a context to give them any detailed application. It make no more sense to aske whether Newton was more intelligent than Shakespare than it does to ask if a hammer is more useful than a knife. There can´t be such a thing as an all-purpose intelligence, any more than an all-purpose tool.
Mary Midgley