[Taxacom] Race and taxonomy

[Carmine COLACINO]

Hi,

my idea is that race has certainly a place in botany and zoology, on  
the other hand it is well known the human species' subdivisions into  
races have no biological meaning. As far as I know today no  
subdivision of Homo sapiens into races is recognized. Racists have no  
need of biological data, racism is based on prejudice not on biology  
(even though, in the not so far away past, social darwinism, popular  
before WW2 in Germany and USA, did apparenty "justify" or "support"  
racial discriminations, just like Lombroso's theories in Italy a  
little earlier had done the same too).
My two cents' worth.


Dr Carmine Colacino
Laboratorio di Briologia
Dip. di Biologia Difesa e Biotecnologie Agro Forestali
Universita' della Basilicata
Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano, 10
85100 Potenza, Italy
Ph. +39-0971-206234; Fax +39-0971-206233
Lab.+39-0971/205346: Mob.+39-329-3178399
Alt. e-mail: colacino at bryology.eu
http://www.unibas.it/utenti/colacino/
http://www.bryology.eu/

On 06- Jan-2008, at 20:29, Richard Jensen wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I have become involved in an interesting discussion on my campus.  One
> of our faculty proposed a new course that included, in its statement  
> of
> intent, the following clause:  "...race has no biological basis."  I
> took exception to this on the grounds that race is a legitimate rank  
> in
> the taxonomic hierarchy and can prove useful when dealing with
> variability within species, regardless of whether the species are
> plants, fungi, animals, or humans.
>
> I have always followed Ernst Mayr's lead when discussing the concept  
> of
> race from a taxonomic perspective: "The typological concept of race is
> thoroughly odious; the statistically defined race of the botanist and
> zoologist is a fact of nature."
>
> So, my question to you is, Does race have any value as a taxonomic
> concept?  Or, should we, because of the abuse of the idea by people of
> all, dare I say, races, dispense with it altogether?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Dick J
>
> Richard Jensen, Professor
> Department of Biology
> Saint Mary’s College
> Notre Dame, IN 46556
> Tel: 574-284-4674
>
>
>
>
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