Research Catalog

Rethinking race : the case for deflationary realism

Title
Rethinking race : the case for deflationary realism / Michael O. Hardimon.
Author
Hardimon, Michael O.
Publication
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2017.

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TextUse in library JFE 17-6876Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
226 pages : illustrations; 25 cm
Summary
Because science has shown that racial essentialism is false, and because the idea of race has proved virulent, many people believe we should eliminate the word and concept entirely. Michael O. Hardimon criticizes this line of thinking, arguing that we must recognize the real ways in which race exists in order to revise our understanding of its significance. Pernicious, traditional racialism maintains that people can be ranked according to innate racial features. Those who would eliminate race make the mistake of associating the word only with this view. Hardimon agrees that this concept should be jettisoned, but draws a distinction with three alternative ideas: a stripped-down version of the ordinary concept that recognizes physical differences but considers them insignificant; a scientific understanding of populations with shared lines of descent; and an acknowledgement of "socialrace" as a separate construction. Hardimon provides a language for understanding ways that races do and do not exist. His account is realistic in recognizing the physical features of races and the existence of races in our social world. But it is deflationary in rejecting the concept of hierarchical, defining racial characteristics. Rethinking Race offers a philosophical basis for repudiating racism without blinding ourselves to reality.--
Subject
  • Race > Philosophy
  • Race > Social aspects
  • Post-racialism
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents
The racialist concept of race -- The minimalist concept of race -- Do minimalist races exist? -- Is minimalist race biologically real? -- The populationist concept of race -- Do populationist races exist? is populationist race biologically real? -- The concept of socialrace -- Health, race, medicine.
Call Number
JFE 17-6876
ISBN
  • 9780674975668
  • 0674975669
LCCN
2016043670
OCLC
959875236
Author
Hardimon, Michael O., author.
Title
Rethinking race : the case for deflationary realism / Michael O. Hardimon.
Publisher
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2017.
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Research Call Number
JFE 17-6876
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