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June 13, 2006
Changeable Natural Kinds
I've encountered an issue that I know very little about and was interested if anyone who might occasionally check this blog had an answer. Are there any views out there according to which there are natural kinds but something that is a member of a natural kind might cease to be a member of that natural kind and then be a member of a different one? I'm pretty sure Aristotle would never allow something like this, but I was wondering if any philosophers have defended such a view.
Update: I'm closing comments due to spam. If you wish to leave me a comment, go to the Parableman posting of this.
Posted by Jeremy at 1:58 PM
June 1, 2006
Racial Essentialism
I don't know if anyone is still checking anything here, but I thought I'd try to draw attention to a post on my own blog in case anyone is. I'm trying to work out a taxonomy of the various views someone might hold regarding the nature of racial groups. One of the views, sometimes called racial realism, takes races to be natural kinds something like species in biology. I'm not trying to evaluate this view at this point, just to categorize what view there might be. It seems to me that there's a great variety of possible views even within racial realism, and I'm working out some of what that variety is.
One concern that keeps arising is the use of the term 'racial essentialism', which I think is supposed to be some sort of racial realism, but most who use it don't make it clear what they mean or why they call it a kind of essentialism. I'm trying to work out the various things someone might mean when calling a view racial essentialism, and I'm looking for help in sorting through the views I've come up with and identifying any possibilities I might have missed. The post is here for any who are interested.
Since this blog is basically defunct until some Syracuse grad students want to revive it (in which case I'll happily be involved and continue to maintain the blog), I'm keeping the comments and trackbacks closed. The comments and trackbacks on the post I'm referring you to at my blog are open.
Posted by Jeremy at 8:35 AM