Are human races cladistic subspecies?

South African Journal of Philosophy 34 (2):163-174 (2015)
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Abstract

In the article titled ‘A new perspective on the race debate’,Robin O. Andreasen argues that contrary to popular scientific belief, human races are biologically real—it is just that we are wrong about them. Andreasen calls her contemporary biological concept of race ‘the cladistic race concept’ (or CRC). Her theory uses theory from cladistics—a systematic school founded by entomologist Willi Hennig in 1950—to define human races genealogically as cladistic subspecies. In this paper I will argue that despite its promise as a biological definition of human races, Andreasen's CRC is unconvincing. In particular, I will show that the central problem of the CRC is its attempt to apply cladistics below the species level. In other words, there is good reason to think that cladistic subspecies are not real, and therefore, they cannot be the target of a realist concept of race.

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Zinhle Mncube
University of California, San Diego

Citations of this work

Racial realism I: Are biological races real?Quayshawn Spencer - 2018 - Philosophy Compass 13 (1):e12467.
Ontological Choices and the Value-Free Ideal.David Ludwig - 2016 - Erkenntnis 81 (6):1253-1272.
Are human races cladistic subspecies?Zinhle Mncube - 2015 - South African Journal of Philosophy 34 (2):163-174.

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References found in this work

Race: Biological reality or social construct?Robin O. Andreasen - 2000 - Philosophy of Science 67 (3):666.
A new perspective on the race debate.Robin O. Andreasen - 1998 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 49 (2):199-225.
Does 'race' have a future?Philip Kitcher - 2007 - Philosophy and Public Affairs 35 (4):293–317.
What 'biological racial realism' should mean.Quayshawn Spencer - 2012 - Philosophical Studies 159 (2):181-204.

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