[Taxacom] Race and taxonomy

Wed Oct 8 03:59:01 CDT 2008

Both religion, as well as, helas, science, have a history which is not
"immaculate", regarding science, I referred before to social darwinism,
and to Lombroso's theories a little earlier (which were used to "prove",
to northern Italians, that  southern Italians were mostly all "innate"
criminals, of course for political reasons, as at that time the north  
had
just conquered the south).

Of course, religion and science are made by men (and women, at least
in science) living in a particular historic period, and nobody is  
immune to
the social environment in which is living, still there are examples of  
scientists
who, for instance, did not approve the racial theories of nazism  
(should I
recall that the widespread condamnation of those theories, common  
after WW2,
was much less widespread, nor common - amomg scientists - before WW2?)

Therefore I am surprised when I read statements such as "to claim  
there are no
human races is just ignorant", for several reasons, firstly, of  
course, because we
do not actually have a definition of what a race is, secondly, because  
of the use
that could be done, outside science of statements like that.

I think that we, as biologists, do have a moral duty to avoid the  
misuse of our science
- in a social context - for discriminating people, let us remember we  
live "in" our societies,
not "out" of them, what we say and do does have effects also besides  
the strictly
academic/scientific arena.

And then, even though it appears religions (based on faith) is still  
more a factor of
division than of union for most people (and religions), and that  
therefore religion learnt
very little from history, I like to believe that science (based on  
reason) is able - after all -
to learn something from the errors of the past (or it doesn't?).

"Race" is sensitive matter, I read some colleagues here say it is a  
thing of the past,
I am glad, if that is the case - eventually - in the countries where  
they live, but be
assured racism is still rampart in other areas (including Italy, a  
country with a more than
centenary history of racism, with, as I said, help from science too),  
so I would like to
think statements and "truths" (in science?) should be given with some  
caution, as we
do have a responsability on the use of science in society.

I am also appalled to notice as little historical memory on science  
itself appears from
some contributions, just because biology - has been used in the past,  
as I mentioned
above, to support racism (there were political reasons behind it of  
course, those were
the years of colonial expansion, and a "reason" to "prove" we had a  
"right" to exploit
those peoples and lands, became handy, especially if supported by  
"science". And we
did not learn from that lesson, anyway, as Nazism and Fascism showed a  
little later).

I read zoology does not use any more "race" as a taxonomic ranking  
term (then I wonder,
again, why somebody think it is ignorant to say races do not exist),  
while in botany the term
still exists, I think it is a very sensible thing, after all, one of  
the aim of science and of its
terminology is to make things clear and to avoid misunderstandings. To  
insist in the use,
especially in reference to humanity, of a term so charged with misuse  
does not make much
sense after all, especially if it inspire - among us, the scientists -  
such strong positions, and
- disregard of the way the message can get outside science.

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 08- Jan-2008, at 08:38, Geoff Witten wrote:

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