[Taxacom] Race and taxonomy

[Geoff Witten]

To claim there are no human races is just ignorant.  The boundaries are
fuzzy, and increasingly so as international communication increases
genetic exchange.  The abuse of the term and inferences of
inferiority/superiority are what is abhorrent. 

In a moment of musing after 9/11 I suggested it was about time
governments of all persuasions stopped supporting the mumbo-jumbo which
is religion.  My wife argued that I should not confuse religion and the
abuse of religion.  It is the exploitation of belief which allows
terrorism and suicide bombers, not the belief itself.  She has a
point....

I am not sure if we, as biologists, have a moral duty to say the
existence of different genetic frequencies does not constitute
inferiority.  As scientists we should not ignore facts because it makes
some uncomfortable. 

Geoff

>>> Richard Jensen <rjensen at saintmarys.edu> 7/10/08 23:51 >>>
Hi Frank,

Unfortunately, that's not what is being argued. Very simply, his 
position is that there is no biological validity to the concept of
human 
races because there is no biological basis for recognizing, under any 
circumstances, such groups. This view, and I am paraphrasing here, is 
essentially that when Linnaeus and Blumenthal (and, later, Coon) 
described human races, they did so because they were motivated, either

implicitly or explicitly, by the desire (need?) to establish positions

of superiority/inferiority according to their own socially-driven 
interpretations.

Cheers,

Dick J

Richard Jensen, Professor
Department of Biology
Saint Mary’s College
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Tel: 574-284-4674



Frank.Krell at dmns.org wrote:
> Of course, race has a biological basis. Races are differenciated by
> phenotypical characters that have a genetic basis. Isn't genetics
some
> sort of biological? What doesn't have a biological basis is
assigning
> different races different social values. Racism has no biological
> justification. This is probably what this faculty member wants to
say.
>
> Frank
>
>
> Dr Frank T. Krell 
> Curator of Entomology 
> Editor, Systematic Entomology 
> Commissioner, International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature 
> Department of Zoology 
> Denver Museum of Nature & Science 
> 2001 Colorado Boulevard 
> Denver, CO 80205-5798 USA 
> Frank.Krell at dmns.org 
> Phone: (+1) (303) 370-8244 
> Fax: (+1) (303) 331-6492 
>
http://www.dmns.org/main/en/General/Science/ScientificExperts/Biographie

> s/krellFrank.htm 
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> [mailto:taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu] On Behalf Of Karl
Magnacca
> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 12:56 PM
> To: TAXACOM at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> Subject: Re: [Taxacom] Race and taxonomy
>
> On Mon, October 6, 2008 7:29 pm, Richard Jensen wrote:
>   
>> 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.
>>     
>
> There are multiple issues here.  Just because it has no biological
basis
> doesn't mean it's not useful.  It can be handy for categorizing
> specimens that kinda-sorta look a little different, but grade into
each
> other.  It is, after all, possible that eventually a biological
basis
> may be found for them, such as a morphological character no one had
> noticed before or genetic differentiation.  At the same, it's an
> inherently fuzzy concept, so I don't think it's a legitimate rank.
>
> Karl
> =====================
> Karl Magnacca
> Postdoctoral Researcher
> Department of Zoology
> Trinity College, Dublin 2
> Ireland
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom mailing list
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom 
>
> _______________________________________________
> Taxacom mailing list
> Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
> http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom 
>   

_______________________________________________
Taxacom mailing list
Taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu 
http://mailman.nhm.ku.edu/mailman/listinfo/taxacom