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Comment
. 2014 Jun:46:79-87.
doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2014.05.002. Epub 2014 May 23.

Unnaturalised racial naturalism

Adam Hochman  1
Affiliations
Comment

Unnaturalised racial naturalism

Adam Hochman. Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2014 Jun.

Abstract

Quayshawn Spencer (2014) misunderstands my treatment of racial naturalism. I argued that racial naturalism must entail a strong claim, such as "races are subspecies", if it is to be a substantive position that contrasts with anti-realism about biological race. My recognition that not all race naturalists make such a strong claim is evident throughout the article Spencer reviews (Hochman, 2013a). Spencer seems to agree with me that there are no human subspecies, and he endorses a weaker form of racial naturalism. However, he supports his preferred version of 'racial naturalism' with arguments that are not well described as 'naturalistic'. I argue that Spencer offers us an unnaturalised racial naturalism.

Keywords: Classification; Naturalism; Population genetics; Race; Social constructionism; Subspecies.

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  • The unnatural racial naturalism.
    Spencer Q. Spencer Q. Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2014 Jun;46:38-43. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2014.02.005. Epub 2014 Mar 25. Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci. 2014. PMID: 24681568

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